FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.  D.  D. 


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THE   LIFE   AND    TIMES 


REV.  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  M.A, 


Jimiu/z.suy. 


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THE  LIFE  AND  TIME 


OF  THE 


^«N  OF  ?i!I.V5^ 
DEC    1   1931 


REY.  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  ^k^, 


RECTOR  OF  EPWORTH, 


AND  FATHER  OF  THE 


REVS.  JOHN  AND  CHARLES  WESLEY, 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  THE  METHODISTS, 


y    BY 

L.  TYERMAN. 


LONDON: 

SIMPKIN,  MAESHALL  &  CO.,  STATIONERS'  HALL  COURT. 

SOLD  ALSO  AT  66  PATERNOSTER  ROW. 

1866. 


TO 

THE  REVEREND  WILLIAM  SHAW, 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  METHODIST  CONFERENCE, 

%\x$  Wuntc 

IS    MOST    RESPECTFULLY    AND   AFFECTIONATELY   INSCRIBED, 

AS  A  SMALL  TRIBUTE 

TO   HIS 

LONG  AND  USEFUL  LABOURS  AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD, 

AND  AS  AN 

EXPRESSION  OF  THE  BENEFIT  DERIVED  FROM 

HIS  PRIVATE  FRIENDSHIP 

BY 

THE  AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


I  HAVE  the  conviction  that  due  honour  has  never  yet 
been  paid  to  Samuel  Wesley.     The  praises  of  his  noble 
wife  have  been  sung  loudly  and  long ;  and  no  one  ac- 
quainted with  her  character  and  history,  can  doubt  that 
Mrs    Wesley   deserves   all   the  laurels   that  have  been 
awarded  her.     While  the  general  public,  however,  have 
justly  regarded  her  as  a  lady  of  the  most  eminent  abili- 
ties, and  most  exalted  piety,  they  have  been  in  danger 
of  thinking  that  her  husband,  though  learned,  was  often 
foolish  ;  and  though  pious,  was  painfully  eccentric,  stern, 
and  quarrelsome.    This  is  utterly  unfounded,  and  cruelly 
unjust.     I  submit,  with  all  due  deference  to  others,  that 
while  the  Methodists  owe  an  incalculable  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  "  the  mother  of  the  Wesleys,"  they  owe  an  equal 
debt   to   the  honest-hearted   father,    I  trust   that   the 
present  work  contains  sufficient  evidence  of  this. 

It  is  also  hoped  that  the  following  pages  will  help  the 
reader  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  position  occu- 
pied by  Samuel  Wesley's  sons,  John  and  Charles ;  and 


viii  PREFACE. 

of  the  difficulties  and  discouragements  encountered  by 
the  illustrious  first  Methodists. 

The  "  Memoirs  of  the  Wesley  Family,"  by  Dr  Clarke, 
though  loosely  written,  have  been  of  great  service  in  the 
compilation  of  the  present  volume  ;  but  a  large  number 
of  other  works  have  also  been  consulted.  I  have  care- 
fully examined  everything  that  Mr  Wesley  published, 
except  perhaps  his  first  political  pamphlet ;  and  as  that 
was  published  anonymously,  I  cannot  be  certain  that  I 
have  seen  it.  I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  any  printed 
matter,  casting  light  on  Mr  Wesley's  history,  that  I 
have  not  laid  under  contribution.  To  have  cited  all 
the  authorities  from  which  the  work  has  been  compiled, 
would  have  crowded  the  margin  Avith  an  inconvenient 
number  of  titles  of  tracts,  pamphlets,  and  books.  A  few 
are  given,  and  the  remainder  can  be  easily  adduced  if 
needed. 

For  the  chapters  on  national  afiairs,  I  am  largely  in- 
debted to  Macaulay,  and  to  Knight's  "  Pictorial  History 
of  England ; "  also  to  the  Tatler,  Spectator,  and  Guar- 
dian; and  to  other  publications  of  a  kindred  char- 
acter. In  some  instances,  quotations  have  not  been 
marked  by  inverted  commas  ;  because  they  have  not 
been  made  continuously,  but  pickings  from  ten  or  a 
dozen  pages  of  another  work  have  been  put  into  half  a 
page  of  this.  I  hope  that  this  general  acknowledgment 
will  save  me  from  the  charge  of  plagiary. 

A  few  original  letters  are  now  for  the  first  time  pub- 


PREFACE.  IX 


lislied.  For  three  of  these,  I  am  indebted  to  the  kind 
courtesy  of  the  Eev.  Elijah  Hoole,  D.D. 

The  portrait  is  taken  from  the  large  engraving  pub- 
lished in  the  year  of  Mr  Wesley's  decease,  in  his  "  Dis- 
sertations on  the  Book  of  Job." 

The  work  has  been  a  labour  of  love ;  and  if  the  reader 
derives  as  much  profit  and  pleasure  in  perusing  it  as  the 
author  has  had  in  writing  it,  I  shall  be  amply  satisfied. 

L.  Tyerman. 


Stanhope  House,  Clapham  Pakk, 
January  18,  1866. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

TWO  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO — 1640-1665. 


Convocatioa  in  1640,    . 
Divine  Right  of  Kings, 
Civil  Wars  Commenced, 
Ejected  Clergymen,     , 
Ecclesiastical  Outrages, 
Sports  Suppressed, 
New  Sects,  . 
Assembly  of  Divines,  . 
Church  of  England  during  the 

Commonwealth, 
Cromwell's  "  Triers,"  . 
Morals  of  the  Nation,  . 
Restoration  of  Charles  II., 
Persecutions, 
Archbishop  Usher's  Scheme, 
"  The  Healing  Declaration," 
Meeting  to  Revise  the  Liturgy, 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant, 
Act  of  Uniformity, 
Alterations  in  Book  of  Common 

Prayer,    .         .  .         . 

St  Bartholomew's  Day, 
Three    Classes    of    Conforming 

Ministers, 
Nonconforming  Ministers,  . 
Conventicle  Act, 
Five-Mile  Act,     . 

CHAPTER  IL 

PARENTAGE — 1600-1670. 

Bartholomew  Wesley, . 

His    Attempt  to    Arrest    King 

Charles, 

His  Ejectment  and  Death,  . 


PAGE 

1 
1 

2 
3 
4 
4 
4 
5 

6 
7 
8 
10 
12 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 

17 
19 

20 
21 
25 
25 


28 


29 
32 


PAGE 

John  Wesley's  Birth,  . 

32 

John  Wesley  at  Oxford, 

33 

John  Wesley's  Appointment  to 

Preach,     ..... 

34 

John    Wesley's    Dialogue    with 

Bishop  of  Bristol,     . 

36 

John  Wesley's  Arrest  and  Trial,  . 

43 

John  Wesley's   Ejectment    and 

Persecutions,    .... 

46 

John  Wesley's   Friend,  Joseph 

Alleine,    .         .         .         .         . 

47 

John    Wesley's    Character    and 

Portrait,  .         .         .         .         . 

50 

"  The  Patriarch  of  Dorchester,"  . 

51 

Thomas  Fuller,    .... 

52 

CHAPTER  in. 

SCHOOL  DATS— 1662-16S3. 

Dorchester  School,       ...  55 
National  Events  during  S.  Wes- 
ley's Youth,      .                  .         .  55 
Titus  Oates,          ....  57 
National  Immorality,  ...  62 

Great  Men, 64 

S.  Wesley  intended  for  Dissent- 
ing Ministry,  .  •  .  ,  65 
S.  Wesley  sent  to  London,  .  .  65 
Edward  Veal,  ....  65 
Charles  Morton,  ....  66 
Morton's  Pupils,  ....  68 
Rev.  Thomas  Doolittle,  .  .  69 
Wesley  writes  Lampoons,  .  .  70 
JohnBiddle,  ....  71 
Charges  against  Dissenting  Min- 
isters, .  .  .  .  .73 
Wesley's  School-fellows,  .  .  74 
Daniel  De  Foe,    .                 .        .  75 


Xll 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

UNIVERSITY  DAYS — 16S3-1688. 

Why  S.  Wesley  left  the  Dissent- 
ers,   77 

Wesley  goes  to  Oxford,        .         .  79 

Exeter  College,    ....  80 

Wesley  a  "  Servitor,"  ...  81 

Wesley  publishes  his  "  Maggots,"  82 

Pope's "  Dunciad,"  .  .  .  84 
John  Dunton,      .         .         .         .84 

Wesley's  Life  at  the  University,  .  86 

King  James's  Visit  to  Oxford,     .  89 

Birth  of  Prince  of  Wales,     ,         .  91 

"  Strense  Natalitiaj,"  ...  91 
Wesley's  Poem,    .         .         .         .92 

His  Feelings  towards  King  James,  92 
His  Defence  of  the  Revolution  of 

1688, 93 

CHAPTER  V. 

NATIONAL  AFFAIRS— 1685-1688. 

Charles  II., 94 

Argyle  and  Monmouth's  Invasion,       95 
Judge  Jeffreys,     .         .         .         .96 
King  James's  pro-Papistical  Acts,       98 
King  James's  Declaration  of  In- 
dulgence,   98 

National  Patience  Exhausted,      .       99 
Deplorable   Treatment   of    Dis- 
senters,     100 

Disobedient  Clergy,     .         .         .101 
Story  respecting  S.  Wesley  Re- 
futed,        102 

S.    Wesley's   Opinion   of    King 

James's  Indulgence,  .         .103 

Trial  of  Seven  Bishops,  .  .105 
Flight  of  the  King  and  Queen,  .  106 
Accession  of  William  and  Mary,  .  107 
Description  of  London,  .  .107 
State  of  the  Country,  .  ,  .108 
Religion  and  Morals,    .         .         .111 

CHAPTER  VI. 

ORDINATION  AND  MARRIAGE — 1688,  1689. 


Hardships  at  College,  . 
Ordained  a  Deacon  at  Bromley, 
Bishop  Sprat, 

Ordained  a  Priest  in  Holbom, 
Bishop  Compton, 


113 
113 
114 
114 
114 


Distinguished  Clergymen,    . 

.     115 

Distinguished  Dissenters,     . 

117 

Other  Distinguished  Men,    . 

117 

Wesley's  First  Curacy, 

lis 

Dr  Annesley, 

119 

Samuel  Annesley,  jun., 

121 

The  Father  of  Mrs  Annesley, 

122 

Susannah  Wesley, 

125 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  "  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE  " — 1690-1695. 

South  Ormsby,  .  .  .  .128 
The  Rural  Clergyman,  .         .     129 

Dunton  projects  the  Athenian 

Gazette, 131 

Lacedemonian  Mercury,  ,  .133 
Elkanah  Settle,  .  .  .  .133 
Wesley  and  the  Swearer,  .  ,  134 
Richard  Sault  and  the  Second 

Spira, 135 

John  Norris,  .  .  .  .136 
Nahum  Tate,  .  .  .  .137 
Jonathan  Swift,  .  .  .  .137 
Sir  William  Temple,    .         .         .138 

Mrs  Rowe, 138 

Charles  Gildon,  .  .  .  .138 
History  of  Athenian  Society,  .  138 
Gildon's  Character  of  Wesley,  .  139 
Questions  Answered  in  Athenian 

Gazette,  .  .  .  .  .141 
Wesley's  Opinions  of  Quakers,  .  143 
Wesley's  Theological  Opinions,  .  143 
Wesley's  Opinion  of  Churchmen 

and  Dissenters,        .         .         .148 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

MORE  LITERARY  WORK — 1692,1693. 

"  The  Young  Student's  Library,"  150 
Its  fantastic  Frontispiece,  .  .150 
Contents   of    Young    Student's 

Library,  ....      151 

Wesley's  Article  on  Hebrew  Points,  152 
Wesley's  Essay  on  all  sorts  of 

Learning,  ....     155 

Wesley's  "  Complete  Library,"  .  158 
Wesley's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  .  .  160 
Opinions  for  and  against  it,  .     160 

The  Engravings  in  it,  .         .163 

William  Fairthorn,  .  .  ,  163 
Extracts  from  the  "  Life  of  Christ,"  164 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WILLIAM  AND  MARY's  REIGN — 16S9-1702. 

Touching  to  Cure  the  King's  Evil,  167 
Non-jurors,  ....     169 

William  Sherlock,  .  .  .169 
George  Hickes,  .  .  ,  .170 
Jeremy  Collier,  .  .  .  .170 
Henry  Dodwell,  .  .         .170 

John  Kettlewell,  .         .         .171 

Charles  Leslie,  .  .  .  .171 
The  Seven  Non-juring  Bishops,  .  171 
The  Act  of  Toleration,  .  .  172 
The  Comprehension  Bill,  .  .173 
Commission  to  Revise  the  Liturgy, 

&c., 173 

Convocation  in  1689,  .         .  .175 

High  Church  and  Low  Church,  177 
Samuel  Wesley  not  a  High  Church- 
man, .  .  .  .  .177 
His  Opinion  on  the   Union  of 

Churchmen  and  Dissenters,  .  178 
King  William  the  Head  of  the 

Low-Church  Party,  .         .180 

Episcopacy  Abolished  in  Scotland,  180 
Position  occupied  by  Socinians 

and  Papists,  .  .  .  .181 
Character  and  Death  of  George 

Fox, 182 

Wesley's  Comparison  of  Quakers 

with  Papists,  ....  183 
Archbishop  Tillotson,  .         .184 

Death  and  Character  of  Queen 

Mary, 185 

Great   Men  flourishing  in  the 

Reign  of  William,  .  .  .187 
Character  and  Death  of  William,     188 

CHAPTER  X. 

LAST  DAYS  AT  SOUTH-ORMSBY — 1694-1696. 

Wesley's  Elegies  on  the  Queen 

and  Archbishop,  .  ,  .191 
Epworth  Living  obtained  through 

the  Queen,  .  .  ,  .193 
Tillotson  refuses  to  Recommend 

Wesley  to  an  Irish  Bishopric,  194 
Marquis  of  Normanby,  .  .  195 
Wesley,  his  Chaplain,  in  doubt 

how  to  Act,  ....  197 
Wesley's  Fidelity  obliges  him  to 

leave  Ormsby,      .        .        .198 


PAGE 

Children  born  at  Ormsby,  . 

.     199 

Emilia  Wesley,    . 

.     199 

Susannah  Wesley, 

.     200 

Mary  Wesley, 

.     200 

CHAPTER  XL 

EPWORTH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES — 
1696-1699. 
Isle  of  Axholme,  .         .         .203 

Epworth  Parsonage,  ,  ,  ,  203 
Mehetabel  Wesley,  .  .  .  204 
Character    and   Death  of  Mrs 

Dunton,           .         ,         .         .207 
Timothy  Rogers,          .         .         .     208 
Wesley  writes  Mrs  Dunton's  Epi- 
taph,         209 

Dunton  quarrels  with  Wesley,  .  210 
Wesley's  Sermon  on  Reformation 

of  Manners,      ....     213 
Society  for  the  Reformation  of 

Manners,  ....     213 

Dr  Anthony  Horneck  and  Mr 

Smithies,  ....     213 

William  Beveridge,  .  .  .214 
Young  Men  Converted,  .  .214 
Form  Themselves  into  Societies, .  215 
Religious  Societies  give  birth  to 

Reformation  Societies,     .         .     218 
Daniel  Defoe  on  the  Wickedness 

of  the  Age,       .         .         .         .219 
Wesley  on  do.,         ,     220 

History  of  Society  for  Reforma- 
tion of  Manners,       .         .         .     221 
History  of  Religious  and  of  Meth- 
odist Societies,         .         .         .     224 
Samuel  Wesley's  hearty  Approval 
of  Religious  Societies,       .         .     227 

CHAPTER  XIL 

DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE — 1700-1704. 

Wesley  unfortunately  turns  Far- 
mer,          229 

Letter  to  Archbishop  Sharpe,  .  229 
Explanations,  .  .  .  .231 
Archbishop  Sharpe's  Application 

for  a  "  Brief,"  ....  234 

Wesley  declines  it,      .         ,         .  235 

Wesley  helps  his  Mother,   .         .  235 

A  feio  Children  born,  .         ,         .  236 

Archbishop  Sharpe,     .        .         .  236 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


"  The  Pious  Commuuicant," 
Wesley's  Opinions  on  Transub- 

stantiation  and  Baptism, 
John  Wesley's  Re-publication  of 

his  Father's  Discourse,  . 
Wesley's  Epistle  on  Poetry, 
Its  Preface,  .... 

Impurity  of  the  Press, 
Macaulay  on         do.,  , 
Account  of  Epistle  on  Poetry,     . 
Wesley's  History  of  Old  and  New 

Testament,       .... 
John  Sturt,  .... 

Quotations  from  History  of  Old 

and  New  Testament, 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

CONVOCATION —  1701,   ETC. 

Description  of  Convocation, 

\Vesley  elected  a  Member  of  Con- 
vocation, .... 

Exaggerated  Anecdote, 

Convocation  of  1701,  . 

Convocation  of  1702,  . 

Queen  Anne,        .... 

Duke  of  Marlborough, 

Queen  Anne  a  Bigot, 

Occasional  Conformity  Bill, 

Queen  Anne's  Bounty, 

Lord  Halifax's  Motion  in  Parlia- 
ment,     .         .         .         .         • 

The  Act  to  prevent  the  Growth 
of  Schism,        .  ... 

John  Wesley's    Character    of 
Queen  Anne,  .... 

Increase  of  Club-houses,  &c., 

The  Fashionable  Classes,     . 

Bully-beaus,  &c.  . 

National  Superstition  and  Iguor- 


PAGE 

237 

237 

239 
239 
239 
241 
242 
243 

244 
245 

246 


249 

250 
251 
253 
258 
258 
258 
259 
260 
260 

261 

261 

262 
262 
263 
263 

265 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTERS— 1702-1705. 

Wesley  in  Debt,           .         .         .267 
His  House  on  Fire,      .         .         .  267 
His  Friends  help  Him,         .         .  268 
His  Letter  on  Dissenting  Aca- 
demies,       270 

Secret   History  of   the   Calves- 
head  Club,       ....  271 


Clarendon's  History  of  the  Re- 
bellion,     274 

Samuel  Palmer,  .  .  .  .277 
Robert  Clavel,  .  .  .  .278 
Palmer's  Defence,  "  .  .  .  279 
Wesley's  Defence,  .  .  .280 
Sacheverell's  Sermon  on  Political 

Union, 282 

Dissenter's  Demands  as  expounded 

by  Defoe,         .         .         .         .284 
Defoe's  Shortest  Way  with  Dis- 
senters, .....     286 
Defoe's  Arrest  and  Punishment,     288 
Defoe  attacks  Wesley,  .         .     289 

Other  attacks  on  Wesley,    .         .     290 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  IMPRISONED  FATHER — 1705-1709. 

Wesley's  Missionary  Scheme,      .  295 

Parliamentary  Election  in  1705,  297 

The  Mob  at  Epworth,  .  .  297 
Wesley  deprived  of  his  Military 

Chaj)lainship,  ....  299 

Duke  of  Marlborough,         .         .  299 

Wesley's  Poem  on  Marlborough,  299 

Wesley  in  Lincoln  Castle,    .         .  300 

Letters  to  Archbishop  Sharpe,     .  300 

Wesley's  Release,         .         .         .  304 

Archbishop  Sharpe's  Kindness,  .  304 
Horrible  Death  of  one  of  Wesley's 

Enemies, 304 

A  Prayer, 305 

Letters  to  S.  Wesley,"  jun.,  .  .  307 
Wesley's  Passion  for  Music  and 

Poetry, 311 

More  Letters  to  S.  Wesley,  jun.,  312 
Wesley's  Reply  to  Palmer's  Vindi- 
cation, .....  316 
More  Letters  to  S.  Wesley,  jun.,  319 
Wesleythe  Teacher  of  his  Children,  322 
Anne  Wesley,  ....  322 
Martha  Wesley,  .  .  .  ,322 
Kezziah  Wesley^  ....  325 
Wesley's  Confidence  that  all  his 

Children  would  be  Saved,         .  325 

CHAPTER  XVL 

FIRE  AND  FURY — 1709-1712. 

The  Burning  of  Epworth  Par- 
sonage,    .       ■ .         .         .         .     326 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


PAGE 

A  Eescued  Hymn,  .  .  .  327 
Wesley's  Account  of  the  Fire,  .  328 
Unjust  Accusation,  .  .  .  §29 
Outrages  in  tlie  Isle  of  Axholme,  331 
Family  Destitution,  .  .  .  333 
The  New  Parsonage,  .  .  .333 
Dr  Adam  Clarke  at  Epworth,  .  333 
Henry  Sacheverell,  .  .  .  334 
Sacheverell's  Sermons  at  Derby 

and  at  St  Paul's,  .  ,  .334 
Sacheverell's  Trial,  .  .  .338 
Sacheverell's  Defence  written  by 

Wesley, 339 

Great  National  Excitement,         .     342 
The  New  Parliament  and  Convo- 
cation in  1710,         .         .         .     343 
Wesley  at  Convocation,  and  Events 
at  Epworth,     ....     345 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

PRETERNATURAL  NOISES— 1716,  1717. 

Belief  in  Ghosts,  .         .         .348 

Witchcraft,  .         .         .         .349 

Wesley's  Remarks  on  Apparitions,  349 
Samuel  Badcock,  .         .         .     350 

Wesley  Papers  and  Dr  Priestley,  350 
Account  of  Noises  at  Epworth  Par- 
sonage, .....  350 
Divers  Opinions  respecting  them,  357 
The  Noises  really  Preternatural,  359 
Why  Permitted,  .         .         .360 

Effect  produced  on  Emilia  Wesley,  361 
John  Wesley's  firm  Belief  in 

Witchcraft,  &c.,      .         .        .362 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  LAST  TWENTY  TEARS — 1714-1735. 
The  Pretender,  ....  365 
The  South  Sea  Bubble,  .  .366 
Bishop  Atterbury,  .  .  .  367 
Social,  Moral,  and  Religious  Con- 
dition of  the  Country,  .  .368 
Eminent  Divines  in  the  Church 

of  England,  .  .  .  .369 
Eminent  Dissenting  Ministers,  .  370 
Other  Eminent  Men,  .         .     370 

Wesley's  Dissertations    on    the 

Book  of  Job,  .  .  .  .371 
His  elaborate  Preparations,  .     371 

His  Helpers,        ....     372 


Page 
Maurice  Johnson,  .  .  .  372 
Roger  Gale,  .  .  .  .372 
John  Romley,  .  .  :  .  373 
John  Whitelamb,  .  .  .373 
The  Titles  of  Wesley's  Disserta- 
tions,          377 

Wesley's  Portrait,  .  .  .  378 
Lord  Oxford,  .  .  .  .379 
Subscribers  to  Wesley's  Disserta- 
tions, .....  379 
Dedication  to  Queen  Caroline,  .  380 
Opinions  respecting  the  Disserta- 
tions,          380 

Samuel  Badcock,  .         .        ,380 

Bishop  Warburton,      .         .         .  380 

Alexander  Pope,  &c.,  .         .         .  381 

Wesley's  Letter  to  a  Curate,       .  381 

Wesley  on  Christian  Ministers,    .  382 

Wesley  on  Reading  Prayers,         .  383 

Wesley  on  Books  to  be  Studied,  .  384 

Wesley  on  Sermons,     .         .         .  386 

AVesley  on  Catechising,         .         .  387 
Wesley  on  the  Administration  of 

Sacraments,      ....  387 

Wesley  on  Church  Discipline,       .  387 
Wesley  obtains  the  Rectory  of 

Wroot, 388 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

LETTERS — 1 725-1 735. 
Advices  to  his  son  John  about 

Entering  Orders,      .          .         .  391 
Wesley  and  his  Wife  differ  in 

Opinion, 392 

Wesley  on  Thomas  h,  Kempis,     .  393 
Wesley's    son  John  Ordained  a 

Deacon, 396 

Wesley's   Designs  to  Publish  a 

Polyglot  Bible,  .         .         .397 

Wesley  Pinched  for  Want   of 

Money, 399 

John  Wesley  at  Epworth  and 

Wroot, 399 

Wesley's  Love  for  his  Children,  .  399 
Wesley's  Journey  from  Wroot  to 

Epworth,  &c.,           .         .         .  402 
Mrs  Wesley  thought  to  be  Dan- 
gerously 111,      .         .         .         .403 

Wesley  on  Oriental  Languages,  .  404 

Two  fair  Escapes  from  Death,      .  405 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


Wesley's  Advices  to   his  son 

Charles,   .         .         .         •         .406 

Wesley's  Letters  on  the  First 

Methodist  Meetings  at  Oxford,     407 

Wesley's  Dedication  of  his  Disser- 
tations to  the  Queen,         .         .     409 

Wesley's  Dissertations  nearly  Com- 
pleted,       410 

Wesley  a  strict  Disciplinarian,      .     411 

Letters  on  Doing  Penance,  .         .     412 

A  Difficulty  about  his  Church- 
wardens,   414 

Wesley  nearly  Killed  by  being 

thrown  out  of  his  Waggon,      .     416 

Wesley  writes  to  his  son  Samuel 

on  Family  Affairs,     .         .         .417 

S.  Wesley,  jun.,  declines  Epworth 
Living, 419 

Wesley  learns  to  Write  with  his 

Left  Hand,      .         .         .         .419 

Wesley's  Benevolence,  .         .     420 

Letter  to  the  Lord    Chancellor 

respecting  J.  Whitelamb,  .     420 

Wesley  Visits  his  Sons  at  Oxford,     422 

John  Wesley  Refuses  to  be  his 

Father's  Successor,  .         .422 

His  Father's  Reply  to  his  Objec- 
tions,         422 

Two  Papists  at  Epworth,     .         .     424 

Wesley's  Kindness  to  a  Fatherless 
Boy, 424 

General  Oglethorpe,     .         .         .     425 

Wesley's  Letter  to  Oglethorpe  on 
his  Return  from  Georgia,         ,     425 

Proposed  Special  Sacraments  for 

his  Friends,      .         .         .         .427 

Would  have  gone  to  Georgia  if 

ten  years  younger,  ,         .         .     428 


Inquiries  respecting  Georgia,  .  429 
John  Whitelamb's  wish  to  go  to 

Georgia,  .....  430 
The  Missionary  Spirit  a  Trait  of 

the  Wesley  Family,  .         .     431 

A  Family  Letter  written  by  Proxy,  432 
Matthew  Wesley  and  his  Visit  to 

Epworth,  .         .         .         .     435 

He  unjustly  Accuses  his  Brother,  436 
S.  Wesley's  Reply  to  his  Brother's 

Accusation,      .        .        .        .437 


CHAPTER  XX. 

DEATH  AND  CHARACTER — 1735. 

Declining  Health,         .         .         .  443 

Last  two  Sermons,       .         .         .  443 
John  Wesley's  Account  of  his 

Father's  Death,        .         .         .  444 

Charles  Wesley's  ditto,         .         .  444 
Notice  of  Death  in  Gentleman's 

Magazine,        ....  447 

His  Tomb, 447 

His  Elegy,  by  his  son  Samuel,      .  448 
His  Poetry,          .         .         .         .448 

Eupolis's  Hymn,          .         .         .  449 

Wesley's  Wit  and  Pleasantry,      .  451 

The  Miser's  Feast,       .         .         .  451 

The  Epworth  Parish  Clerk,          .  452 
Two  Letters  written  by  Wesley's 

Granddaughter,          .         .         .  453 
Snuff  and  Tobacco,       .         .         .455 
Dr  Whitehead's  Critique  on  Wes- 
ley,             456 

J.  Hampson's  ditto,      .         •         .  457 

Adam  Clarke's  ditto,     .         .         .  457 

Success  of  Wesley's  Labours,       .  458 


APPENDICES. 


Titles  of  Poems  in  Wesley's  "  Maggots,"         .... 
List  of  Pamphlets  published  at  the  Revolution  of  1688, 
List  of  Books  Condensed  in  "  The  Young  Student's  Library," 


461 
462 
464 


THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES 


SAMUEL  WESLEY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

TWO  HUNDRED  YEAES  AGO — 1G40-1GG5. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  born  a  little  more  than  two  hundred  years 
ago ;  and  a  brief  review  of  the  state  of  the  nation  and  of  the 
Church  at  that  period  will  be  useful  in  illustrating  some  parts  of 
his  history. 

From  March  1629  to  A]3ril  1640,  the  houses  of  legislature  had 
not  assembled  ;  never  in  English  history  had  there  been  an  interval 
of  eleven  years  between  one  parliament  and  another.  Charles  I. 
had  systematically  attempted  to  make  himself  a  despot,  and  to 
reduce  the  parliament  to  a  nullity. 

To  make  bad  things  worse,  Archbishop  Laud,  in  the  year  1640, 
convened  Convocation,  which  ordered  that  every  clergyman 
should  instruct  his  parishioners  once  a  quarter,  in  the  divine  right 
of  kings,  and  the  damnable  sin  of  resistance  to  authority.  By  the 
divine  right  of  kings  was  meant,  that  the  Supreme  Being  regarded 
hereditary  monarchy,  as  opposed  to  other  forms  of  government, 
with  peculiar  favour ;  that  the  rule  of  succession,  in  order  of  primo- 
geniture, was  a  divine  institution  anterior  to  the  Christian,  and 
even  to  the  Mosaic  disj)ensation  ;  that  no  human  power,  not  even 
that  of  the  whole  legislature,  could  deprive  the  legitimate  prince 
of  his  rights ;  and  that  the  laws  by  which,  in  Eugland  and  in 

a 


2  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

other  countries,  the  prerogative  was  limited,  were  to  be  regarded 
merely  as  concessions,  which  the  sovereign  had  freely  made,  and 
which  he  might  at  his  pleasure  resume. 

By  the  same  ecclesiastical  parliament,  all  clergymen  and  all 
graduates  in  the  universities  were  required  to  take  an  oath,  that 
everything  necessary  for  salvation  was  contained  in  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  distinguished  from  Presby- 
terianism  and  Papistry  ;  and  they  were  also  required  to  swear  that 
they  would  not  consent  to  any  alteration  of  the  government  of  the 
Church,  by  archbishops,  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons.  Those  re- 
fusing to  take  such  oaths  were  threatened  with  heavy  j)enalties. 

This  assumption  of  ecclesiastical  power,  on  the  part  of  Convo- 
cation, was  most  offensively  absurd.  The  nation  for  years  had 
been  divided  both  in  politics  and  religion ;  and  it  was  not  to  be 
expected  that  such  decrees  could  be  issued  without  provoking  re- 
sistance and  creating  trouble.  Hence,  in  the  same  year,  and  in 
the  year  following,  we  find  a  crowd  of  events  which  exerted  a  most 
powerful  influence  on  the  subsequent  history  of  the  nation.  The 
House  of  Commons,  which,  after  an  interval  of  eleven  years,  was 
again  brought  together,  appointed  a  grand  committee  of  the  whole 
house  to  inquire  into  the  scandalous  immoralities  of  the  clergy. 
Above  two  thousand  cases  were  presented,  and  the  work  of  cleansing 
the  Augean  stable  became  so  heavy,  that  the  grand  committee  had 
to  divide  itself  into  four  or  five  sub-committees,  called  White's, 
Corbett's,  Harlow's,  and  Dearing's  committees,  after  the  chairman 
of  each.  An  act  also  was  passed  by  the  House  of  Commons,  that 
the  clergy  should  not  be  magistrates,  neither  should  officiate  as 
judges  in  civil  courts.  Lord  Strafford — eloquent  and  bold,  but 
imperious  and  cruel,  Charles's  most  trusted  counsellor,  and  one 
whose  object  it  had  been  to  make  his  royal  master  as  absolute  a 
monarch  as  any  in  Europe — was  arrested,  tried,  and  beheaded. 
The  Star  Chamber  and  the  High  Commission  courts,  the  former 
a  political,  the  latter  a  religious  inquisition,  were  abolished. 
Thirteen  bishops  were  impeached  by  the  Lower  House  of  Parlia- 
ment, Archbishop  Laud  being  one  of  them.  The  London  ap- 
prentices began  their  riots.  Two  hundred  thousand  Protestant 
men,  women,  and  children,  were  massacred  in  Ireland,  and  thou- 
sands more  had  to  flee  to  England,  naked  and  famished,  to  obtain 
subsistence.  The  papistical  butchers,  not  satisfied  with  this,  pro- 
ceeded to  threaten  that,  when  they  had  wreaked  their  vengeance  on 


TWO  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO.  -i 

the  handful  left  in  Ireland,  they  would  come  to  England,  and  in- 
flict upon  the  Protestants  there  the  same  barbarities. 

It  was  impossible  for  such  events  to  happen  without  public 
feeling  being  excited  to  the  highest  pitch.  The  parliament  was 
aroused  ;  the  country  rose  to  arms  ;  and  the  civil  wars  commenced. 
The  Commons  passed  a  resolution  that  they  would  never  consent 
to  any  toleration  of  the  popish  religion,  either  in  Ireland  or  any 
other  part  of  his  majesty's  dominions  ;  and  another  bill  was  passed 
excluding  bishops  from  the  House  of  Lords.  From  this  date,  the 
Cliurch  of  England,  if  not  entirely  demolished,  may  be  regarded 
as  a  ruin. 

In  1642,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  House  of  Commons  to 
inquire  "  what  malignant  clergymen  had  benefices  in  and  about 
London,  which  benefices,  being  sequestered,  might  be  supplied  by 
others,  who  should  receive  their  profits  ; "  and  in  the  year  following, 
the  "  Scandalous  Committee"  of  1640,  and  the  "  Plundering  Com- 
mittee" of  1642,  (as  the  royalists  called  them,)  were  empowered  to 
act  in  concert ;  and,  by  their  united  efforts,  the  Church  was  well- 
nigh  cleared  both  of  the  clergymen  who  were  immoral,  and  of  those 
whose  opinions  did  not  harmonise  with  the  opinions  generally  enter- 
tained by  parliament.  Many  left  their  cures,  and  took  sanctuary  in 
the  king's  armies  ;  others  were  put  under  confinement  in  Lambeth, 
Winchester,  and  Ely ;  and  about  twenty  were  imprisoned  beneath 
deck  in  ships  on  the  river  Thames,  no  friend  being  allowed  to  come 
near  them.  Several  pious  and  worthy  bishops  and  other  clergy- 
men, who  desired  to  live  peaceably  without  joining  either  side,  had 
their  estates  and  livings  sequestered,  and  their  houses  and  goods 
plundered,  and  were  themselves  reduced  to  live  upon  the  fifths,  a 
small  pension  from  parliament.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned. 
Archbishop  Usher,  Bishops  Morton  and  Hall,  and  the  no  less  re- 
nowned Jeremy  Taylor,  who,  driven  from  his  living  at  Uppingham, 
retired  into  Wales,  and,  while  supporting  himself  and  his  family 
by  teaching  a  school,  there  composed  some  of  the  greatest  of  his 
immortal  works. 

For  the  space  of  about  two  years,  the  country  might  be  said  to 
be  without  any  established  form  of  worship.  The  clergy  were  left 
to  read  the  liturgy,  or  not  to  read  it,  as  they  pleased,  and  to  use 
equal  discretion  as  to  wearing  the  canonical  habits,  or  the  Geneva 
cloak.  The  ecclesiastical  polity  of  the  realm  was  in  total  con- 
fusion.    Episcopacy  was  the  form  of  government  prescribed  by 


4  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

the  old  law  of  the  land,  whicli  was  not  repealed ;  but  the  form  of 
o-overnment  prescribed  by  parliamentary  ordinance  w^as  presby- 
terian ;  and  yet,  neither  the  old  law,  nor  the  parliamentary 
ordinance,  was  practically  in  force.  The  Church  actually  estab- 
lished may  be  described  as  an  irregular  body,  made  up  of  a  few 
presbyteries,  and  of  many  independent  congregations,  all  held 
down  and  held  together  by  the  authority  of  government.  Cathe- 
dral worship  was  almost  everywhere  abolished,  and  many  of  the 
sacred  edifices  themselves  defaced  and  injured.  By  the  parlia- 
mentary ordinance  of  1643,  clergymen,  both  bad  and  good,  were 
ejected  from  their  benefices  by  thousands ;  altars  and  stone  tables 
in  churches  were  destroyed ;  candlesticks,  tapers,  and  basins 
standing  upon  communion  tables  were  unsparingly  removed ;  and 
all  crosses,  crucifixes,  images,  and  superstitious  pictures  and  paint- 
ings demolished.  Churches  and  sepulchres,  fine  works  of  art  and 
curious  remains  of  antiquity,  met  with  the  same  ruthless  treat- 
ment. In  Chichester  Cathedral,  the  rabble,  meeting  with  the 
portrait  of  King  Edward  VI.,  picked  out  its  eyes,  because  Edward 
had  established  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  In  Canterbury 
Cathedral,  where  they  found  the  arras-hangings,  representing  the 
history  of  Christ,  they  swore  they  would  stab  the  picture  of  our 
Saviour,  and  rip  up  its  bowels,  which  they  did  accordingly ;  while 
at  the  south  gate,  they  discharged  forty  muskets  at  a  carved  figure 
of  Christ,  and  rejoiced  exceedingly  when  they  hit  it  on  the  head  or 
face.  At  Lichfield,  they  stabled  their  horses  in  the  body  of  the 
church,  polluted  the  orchestra,  baptized  a  calf  at  the  baptismal 
font,  and  hunted  a  cat  with  hounds  every  day  throughout  the 
windings  of  the  sacred  edifice. 

While  such  proceedings  were  taking  place  in  cathedrals  and 
churches,  parliament  was  passing  sharj)  laws  against  betting,  and 
enacting  that  adultery  should  be  punished  with  death.  Public 
amusements,  from  masques  in  the  mansions  of  the  great,  down  to 
wrestling  and  grinning  matches  on  village  greens,  were  vigorously 
attacked.  All  the  May-poles  in  England  were  ordered  to  be  hewn 
down.  Play-houses  were  to  be  dismantled,  the  spectators  fined, 
and  the  actors  whipped  at  the  cart's  tail.  Magistrates  dispersed 
festive  meetings,  and  put  fiddlers  in  the  stocks.  The  zeal  of  the 
soldiers  was  still  more  formidable,  for  in  every  village  where  they 
happened  to  appear,  there  was  an  end  of  dancing,  bell-ringing,  and 
hockey. 


TWO  HUNDRED  YEARS  AdO.  5 

Meanwhile  several  sects  sprung  into  existence,  whose  eccentri- 
cities surpassed  anything  that  had  ever  been  seen  in  England.  A 
mad  tailor,  named  Ludowick  Muggleton,  wandered  from  pothouse 
to  pothouse,  tippling  ale,  and  denouncing  eternal  torments  against 
those  who  refused  to  believe,  on  his  testimony,  that  the  Supreme 
Being  was  only  six  feet  high,  and  that  the  sun  was  just  four 
miles  from  the  earth.  Another  sect  of  fanatics,  which  now  sprung 
up,  were  the  Fifth  Monarchy  ]\Ien,  so  called  because  they  taught 
that  the  four  great  monarchies  of  the  world  were  about  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  the  monarchy  of  Christ,  who  would  reign  among  man- 
kind for  a  thousand  years.  The  powers  of  earth  were  to  be  utterly 
destroyed,  and  Christ  to  be  king  alone.  Acting  upon  their  fana- 
tical principles,  in  1660  they  scoured  the  streets  of  London,  com- 
mitting murder,  without  distinction  of  age  or  sex,  till  they  came 
to  Aldersgate  Street,  where  they  halted,  and  proclaimed  king  Jesus, 
crying  out,  "  No  king  but  Christ."  These  enthusiasts  fought  like 
lions  ;  but,  of  course,  were  overpowered.  A  number  of  them  were 
killed  in  the  skirmish  that  took  place  in  scattering  them  ;  and  six- 
teen, who  were  taken  prisoners,  were  drawn  on  sledges  from  New- 
gate through  Cheapside  to  a  place  opposite  their  meeting-house  in 
Swan  Ally,  Coleman  Street,  where  they  were  hanged  and  quar- 
tered, their  quarters  being  afterwards  set  upon  the  four  gates  of 
the  city.  George  Fox,  also,  raised  a  tempest  of  derision  by  pro- 
claiming that  it  was  a  violation  of  Christian  sincerity  to  designate 
a  single  person  by  a  plural  pronoun  ;  and  that  it  was  an  idola- 
trous homage  to  Janus  and  Woden  to  talk  about  January  and 
Wednesday.  He  hated  Episcopacy,  steeple  houses,  and  the  liturgy; 
and  propounded  the  most  extravagant  whimsies  concerning  pos- 
tures, dress,  and  diversions.  One  of  his  coadjutors  was  John 
Hinks,  first  a  shepherd's  boy,  and  then  a  shoemaker,  prodigiously 
ignorant,  and  yet  an  enthusiast,  who  pretended  to  be  inspired. 
James  Naylor  was  another  of  Fox's  mad  associates,  a  man  who, 
when  he  entered  Bristol,  stripped  himself  stark  naked,  had  his 
horse  led  in  triumph  by  two  women,  while  his  nasal-twanged 
followers  strewed  branches  in  his  way,  and  shouted  "  Hosannah." 
Solomon  Eccles,  one  of  the  Quakers'  chief  teachers,  went  naked  into 
the  church  at  Aldermanbury,  in  the  time  of  divine  service,  be- 
daubed all  over  with  filth,  as  an  emblem  of  the  nakedness  and  filth 
of  the  minister  who  was  preaching.  And  two  women,  at  Kendal, 
of  the  names  of  Adlino'ton  and  Collinson,  are  said  to  have  walked 


6  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

throiis^b  the  streets  of  that  town  in  the  same  state  of  nudity,  and 
who,  when  friendly  hands  tried  to  cover  them,  rebuked  such  kind- 
ness, by  declaring  that  "  it  hindered  the  work  of  the  Lord." 

Such,  substantially,  was  the  state  of  affairs,  when,  in  1643, 
the  Assembly  of  Divines  met,  by  an  ordinance  of  parliament,  in  the 
city  of  Westminster,  for  "  settling  the  government  and  liturgy 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  for  vindicating  and  clearing  the 
said  Church  from  false  aspersions  and  interpretations."  The 
Assembly  consisted  of  thirty  members  of  parliament,  including 
six  noblemen ;  and  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  ministers,  in- 
cluding Dr  Lightfoot,  Edmund  Calamy,  and  Joseph  Caryl.  Baxter 
says,  the  divines  were  men  of  eminent  learning  and  godliness, 
ministerial  abilities  and  fidelity.  Each  member  of  the  Assembly 
had  four  shillings  a-day  allowed  by  parliament  towards  his  ex- 
penses. They  sat  five  years,  six  months,  and  twenty-two  days, 
during  which  time  they  had  1163  sessions.  A  few  of  the  members 
were  attached  to  Episcopacy  ;  but,  finding  themselves  in  a  hopeless 
minority,  they  soon  retired.  The  great  majority  were  in  favour  of 
Presbyterianism ;  but  these,  to  the  last,  were  vigorously  opposed 
by  a  minority,  consisting  of  two  sections,  who,  although  they  gene- 
rally acted  in  concert  against  the  common  enemy,  were  also  dis- 
tinguishable from  each  other.  These  were,  first,  the  Independents  ; 
and,  secondly,  the  Erastians,  so  called  because  of  their  adoption  of 
the  principles  of  Erastus,  a  German  divine  of  the  preceding  cen- 
tury, who  maintained  that  the  Church,  or  the  clergy,  as  such,  pos- 
sessed no  inherent  legislative  jDOwer  of  any  kmd,  and  that  the 
National  Church  was,  in  all  respects,  the  mere  subject  and  creature 
of  the  civil  magistrate. 

Such  were  the  men  to  whom  was  committed  the  work  of  build- 
ing up  a  new  ecclesiastical  polity.  By  their  advice  alterations 
were  made  in  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  the  intention  being  to 
render  their  sense  more  express  and  determinate  in  favour  of  Cal- 
vinism. In  1645,  their  "Directory  of  Public  Worship"  supplanted 
the  liturgy,  and  was  established  by  an  ordinance  of  parliament. 
They  also  agreed  in  introducing  and  enforcing  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant,  by  which  Episcopacy  was  abjured.  In  1646,  the 
name,  style,  and  dignity  of  archbishops  and  bishops  were  formally 
abolished;  and,  in  1649,  the  "Confession  of  Eaith,"  which  laid 
down  a  Presbyterian  system  of  ecclesiastical  polity,  received  the 
sanction  of  an  Act  of  Parliament. 


TWO  HUNDEED  YEAES  AGO.  7 

Many  difficulties,  however,  stood  in  the  way  of  the  actual  exten- 
sion of  this  new  system  over  the  whole  kingdom  ;  and,  in  fact,  it 
never  obtained  more  than  a  very  limited  and  imperfect  establish- 
ment. Accordingly,  the  National  Church  of  England,  during  the 
Commonwealth,  was  by  no  means  exclusively  composed  of  Pres- 
byterians, (though  they  were  the  most  numerous,)  for  some  of  the 
benefices  were  still  retained  by  their  old  Episcopal  incumbents  ;  a 
considerable  number  were  held  by  Independents,  and  a  few  were 
filled  even  by  the  minor  sects,  that  now  swarmed  in  the  sunshine 
of  the  Protector's  all  but  universal  toleration. 

King  Charles  was  beheaded  in  1649,  and  Oliver  Cromwell  was 
appointed  Lord  Protector  in  1653.  A  quarter  of  a  century  before 
he  was  raised  to  this  high  position,  Cromwell  had  openly  deserted 
the  Church  of  England,  and  attached  himself  to  the  Puritans, 
who  were  just  then  rising  into  wealth  and  power.  Under  the 
Commonwealth,  the  Dissenters  increased  in  numbers,  and  exercised 
a  predominating  influence  in  national  affairs.  Besides  being  in- 
cumbents of  j^arish  churches,  their  ministers  officiated  as  chaplains 
of  political  bodies ;  and  preached  to  mayors  and  aldermen,  as 
they  sat  arrayed  in  golden  chains  and  scarlet  robes  at  Guildhall 
festivals.  The  rights  of  presentation  to  church  livings  were  still 
retained  to  patrons ;  but,  to  prevent  abuses,  Cromwell,  in  1653, 
appointed  a  Board  of  Commissioners  to  examine  all  candidates  for 
holy  orders,  and  without  whose  sanction  none  could  be  admitted 
to  a  church  benefice.  These  "  Triers,"  as  they  were  called, 
were  thirty-eight  in  number.  Part  of  them  were  Presbyterians, 
part  were  Independents,  and  a  few  were  Baptists.  Among  them 
were  Dr  Thomas  Goodwin,  Dr  John  Owen,  Joseph  Caryl,  the 
author  of  the  gigantic  Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Job,  and 
Thomas  Manton,  whose  writings,  so  full  of  sanctified  genius,  will 
be  prized  by  the  Church  of  Christ  to  the  end  of  time.  Baxter 
tells  us  that  the  Triers,  with  all  their  faults,  did  a  great  amount  of 
good.  They  saved  many  a  congregation  from  ignorant,  ungodly, 
drunken  teachers.  All  that  either  preached  against  a  godly  life, 
or  preached  as  though  they  knew  not  what  it  was ;  and  all  those 
that  used  the  ministry  as  a  common  trade,  and  merely  as  a  means 
of  getting  bread,  were  usually  rejected  ;  while  all  who  were  able, 
serious  preachers,  and  whose  lives  were  holy,  were  admitted,  of 
whatsoever  opinions  they  were,  so  long  as  their  opinions  were 
"tolerable,"    The  authority  of  Cromwell's  Triers  was  almost  un- 


8  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

limited,  and,  certainly,  was  not  unneeded.  Previous  to  their  ap- 
pointment, any  one  who  wished  might  set  up  to  be  a  preacher, 
and  so  give  himself  a  chance  of  obtaining  a  living  in  the  Church. 
Now,  every  candidate  for  the  pulpit  and  emoluments  of  a  parish 
church  had  to  bring  to  the  Board  of  Triers,  sitting  at  Whitehall, 
a  testim-onial,  subscribed  by  the  hands  of  three  persons  of  known 
goodness  and  integrity,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  bad  to  be  a  preacher 
of  the  gospel  in  some  constant  settled  place.  On  the  candidate 
passing  his  examination,  he  was  inducted  to  the  church  living,  to 
which  he  had  been  presented,  by  a  document,  given  in  the  name 
of  the  Triers,  signed  by  the  State  Kegistrar,  and  sealed  with  the 
seal  of  the  Commonwealth.  He  then  took  possession,  cultivated 
the  glebe  lands,  prayed,  if  he  choose,  without  book  or  surplice,  and 
administered  the  eucharist  to  communicants  seated  at  long  tables. 
In  some  instances  there  was  also  formed  a  sort  of  independent 
church  outside  the  parish  church,  to  whom  the  preacher  adminis- 
tered the  sacraments,  not  in  the  parochial  edifice,  but  in  private 
houses.  It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  exact  number  of  these 
beneficed  Dissenters,  under  the  Commonwealth,  but  it  may  be 
safely  inferred,  that  they  were  numerous,  when  it  is  borne  in  mind 
that,  after  the  elevation  of  Cromwell  to  the  Protectorate,  they  were 
favoured  by  the  ruling  powers ;  and,  after  the  Eestoration,  were 
regarded  by  their  opponents  with  great  anxiety. 

Of  the  two,  the  Presbyterians  were  more  numerous  than  the 
Independents,  and,  in  many  instances,  the  feeling  between  the 
parties  was  anything  but  brotherly.  Cromwell  had  tried  to  be 
impartial,  and  to  allow  all  classes.  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians, 
Independents,  and  Baptists,  to  have  a  fair  share  of  church  emolu- 
ments, and  thereby  he  hoped  to  secure  something  like  church 
amity,  but  the  effort  was  futile  and  the  hope  not  realised. 

Among  the  ministers  who,  during  the  Commonwealth,  occupied 
the  pulpits  of  England,  there  were  not  a  few  who  will  always  rank 
among  England's  most  powerful  preachers,  and  most  profound 
divines.  Besides  these  there  were  likewise  men  in  the  country  belong- 
ing to  other  classes,  whose  names  will  ever  be  invested  with  a  halo 
of  honour.  Dr  Busby  was  master  of  Westminster  School,  and  cele- 
brated alike  for  his  classical  abilities  and  unflinching  discipline. 
Vandyke  was  putting  on  canvas  his  unequalled  portraits  ;  and 
Inigo  Jones  reviving  classical  architecture.  There  were  also  Andrew 
l\;arvell,  renowned  as  the  first  of  patriots  and  of  wits;  George 


TWO  HUNDEED  YEAES  AGO.  9 

Withers,  some  of  whose  earlier  poetry,  especially,  abounds  in  the 
finest  bursts  of  sunshine;  John  Milton,  Cudworth,  Sir  Thomas 
Browne,  and  others  of  a  like  character. 

The  morals  of  the  nation,  up  to  the  time  of  Charles's  execution, 
were  about  as  bad  as  badness  could  make  them.  The  chief  amuse- 
ments of  the  court  were  masques,  and  emblematic  pageants,  some 
of  which  cost  more  than  £20,000  each.  Extravagance  in  dress  and 
personal  adornment  had  become  an  absolute  phrenzy.  James  I., 
when  transported  from  the  scantily-furnished  halls  of  Holyrood  to 
the  plentiful  palaces  of  the  south,  burst  from  a  clumsy,  ungainly 
figure  into  a  gilded  coxcomb,  almost  daily  figuring  in  a  new  suit, 
and  his  courtiers  copying  his  example.  When  Buckingham  was 
sent  ambassador  to  the  court  of  France,  his  suit  of  white  velvet 
was  set  all  over  with  diamonds,  valued  at  £80,000  ;  and,  besides 
this,  he  had  another  suit  of  purple  satin,  embroidered  with  pearls 
worth  £20,000.  In  fact,  the  beaux  of  this  period  were  animated 
trinkets.  Prodigality  in  feasting  soon  became  as  conspicuous  as 
extravagance  in  dress  ;  and  gambling  kept  pace  with  both.  The 
manners  of  the  court,  and  of  both  sexes  in  the  higher  classes,  were 
gross  in  the  extreme.  English  taverns  were  dens  of  filth,  tobacco 
smoke,  roaring  songs,  and  roysterers  ;  and  yet,  even  in  such  places, 
women  of  rank  allowed  themselves  to  be  entertained,  and  tolerated 
those  freedoms  from  their  admirers  which  are  described  with  such 
startling  plainness  in  our  old  plays  and  poems.  The  streets  of 
London,  and  even  of  the  inferior  towns,  were  filled  with  prowling 
sharpers  ;  and  the  highways  of  England  were  equally  infested  with 
robbers,  concealing  their  faces  with  visors,  and  carrying  in  their 
pockets  false  tails  for  their  otherwise  well-known  horses.  Divina- 
tion was  a  thriving  business ;  and  fortune-telling  was  frequently 
a  cover  to  the  worse  trades  of  pandering  and  poisoning.  The 
stars  were  more  eagerly  studied  than  the  dinrnals  ;  and  both 
cavaliers  and  roundheads  thronged  to  astrologers  to  learn  the 
events  of  the  succeeding  week.  Exorcising  devils  was  common, 
and  the  belief  in  witches  became  the  master  superstition  of  the 
age  ;  so  that  between  three  and  four  thousand  persons  are  said  to 
have  been  executed  for  witchcraft  between  the  year  1640  and  the 
Restoration. 

Of  course,  during  the  Commonwealth,  when  Puritan  principles 
were  in  the  ascendancy,  a  great  change  came  over  the  general 
manners  and  morals  of  the  land.     Republican  simplicity  prevailed 


10  TUK  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

in  the  banquets  at  Whitehall ;  Scotch  collops,  marrow  puddings^ 
and  hog's-liver  sausages  forming  standing  dishes  of  Lady  Crom- 
well's cookery.  Eeligion  was  the  language  of  the  court,  and  also  its 
garb  ;  prayer  and  fasting  were  fashionable  exercises  ;  and  a  godly 
profession  was  the  road  to  preferment.  Not  a  play  was  acted  in 
all  England  for  many  years,  and  from  the  prince  to  the  peasant 
and  common  soldier,  the  features  of  Puritanism  were  almost  univer- 
sally exhibited.  Many  doubtless  were  fanatics  and  others  design- 
ing knaves,  whose  whole  religion  consisted  in  the  use  of  a  religious 
vocabulary  and  hypocritical  grimace  ;  but  making  all  due  allow- 
ance for  a  large  amount  of  unscriptural  enthusiasm  and  pious 
fraud,  there  were  unquestionably  among  those  sickly  dreamers 
and  canting  fanatics,  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  enlight- 
ened, sincere,  and  earnest  Christians. 

Cromwell  died  in  1658.  Immediately  after  his  death,  the 
Protectorate  broke  down  under  his  son  Richard,  and  confusion 
became  worse  confounded.  The  army  was  unsettled,  the  parlia- 
ment divided,  the  republic  was  discouraged,  trade  decayed,  and 
the  exchequer  empty.  The  majority  of  the  nation  were  weary 
of  change,  and  had  no  fiiith  in  ideal  republics ;  and,  by  the  spring 
of  ]  660,  public  feeling  was  strongly  in  favour  of  the  restoration 
of  Charles  II.  In  the  month  of  March,  the  Rump  Parliament  was 
finally  dissolved.  All  the  bells  in  London  were  set  a  ringing; 
and,  as  Pepys  tells  us,  bonfires  blazed  on  every  side,  there  being 
not  fewer  than  fourteen  burning,  at  the  same  time,  between  St 
Dunstan's  and  Temple  Bar. 

The  Presbyterians  now  stood  foremost,  and,  in  Parliament,  were 
the  leaders.  The  League  and  Covenant  was  hung  on  the  walls  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  was  ordered  to  be  read  in  every 
church  once  a  year  ;  but  in  March  1660,  as  an  indication  of  other 
changes  coming,  Dr  John  Owen,  Cromwell's  chaplain,  was  removed 
from  the  deanery  of  Christ's  Church,  Oxford,  and  Dr,  afterwards 
Bishop,  Reynolds  was  appointed  in  his  place.  On  the  SOth  of 
April,  a  public  fast  was  held,  Reynolds  and  Hardy  preaching  be- 
fore the  House  of  Lords ;  and  Gauden,  Calamy,  and  Baxter  before 
the  House  of  Commons.  On  the  1st  of  May,  Sir  John  Granville 
arrived  from  Breda  with  despatches  from  Charles  II. ;  one  being 
addressed  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  another  to  the  House  of 
Commons.  The  latter  contained  the  famous  "  Declaration  of 
Breda/'  offering  indemnity  for  the  past,  and  liberty  of  conscience 


TWO  HUNDEED  YEARS  AGO.  11 

for  the  future.  The  declaration  was,  "  We  do  declare  a  liberty  to 
tender  consciences,  and  that  no  man  shall  be  disquieted,  or  called 
in  question  for  difference  of  opinions,  which  do  not  disturb  the 
peace  of  the  kingdom."  Within  a  fortnight  after  this,  Charles 
was  proclaimed  king,  amid  "  festivals,  bells,  and  bonfires,"  Kichard 
Baxter  preaching  a  sermon  on  the  occasion,  before  the  Lord  Mayor 
and  Corporation  of  London, 

The  restoration  of  Charles  being  settled,  several  members  of  the 
Lords  and  Commons,  on  the  11th  of  May,  started  off  to  Holland 
to  meet  him.  The  city  of  London  sent  commissioners,  and  with 
them  went  certain  Presbyterian  ministers,  as  Eeynolds,  Manton, 
and  Calamy.  These  reverend  brethren  told  the  king  that  they 
had  urged  the  people  to  restore  him  to  the  throne  of  his  father, 
and  declared  themselves  as  no  enemies  to  moderate  Episcopacy  ; 
but  begged  that  his  Majesty  would  dispense  with  the  surplice 
being  worn,  and  that,  instead  of  adopting  the  use  of  the  Common 
Prayer  entirely  and  formally,  he  would  dii^ect  that  only  some  parts 
of  it  should  be  read,  with  some  superadded  prayers  by  his  chap- 
lains. At  the  end  of  the  month  Charles  landed  at  Dover.  The 
castle  guns  bid  him  welcome.  Thousands  upon  thousands,  stand- 
ing upon  the  beach  and  cliffs,  waved  their  hats,  and  gave  right 
hearty  cheers.  When  he  arrived  in  London,  the  corporation 
waited  in  a  tent  at  St  George's-in-the-Fields  to  receive  him.  All 
the  houses  in  Southwark,  Cheapside,  Fleet  Street,  and  the  Strand 
were  hung  with  banners  and  adorned  with  tapestry.  The  Livery 
companies  turned  out  in  their  velvet  coats,  silver  doublets,  and 
rich  green  scarfs ;  while  kettle-drums  and  trumpets  made  all 
London  ring  again.  Addresses  flowed  in  from  all  quarters  wel- 
coming the  king  back  to  Old  England,  and,  among  others,  one 
from  the  county  of  Devon,  bearing  among  others  the  signature  of 
the  celebrated  Joseph  Caryl. 

All  seemed  to  be  unanimous  and  jubilant ;  and  yet  all  this  was 
but  the  beginning  of  the  tug  of  war.  Charles  was  a  constitutional 
king,  and  was  to  rule  through  parliaments.  The  Presbyterians, 
who  were  still  in  power,  expected  royal  favour  for  recent  services, 
and  to  be  comprehended  in  some  wide  church  establishment. 
Independents,  Baptists,  and  Quakers  asked  for  toleration,  Eoman 
Catholics,  who  had  been  friends  to  the  beheaded  father  and  the 
exiled  son,  thought  themselves  entitled  to  consideration.  While 
the  Episcopalians  claimed  the  new  monarch  as  their  own,  sought 


12  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

exclusive  re- establishment,  wished  to  cast  out  all  Presbyterian 
intruders,  and  were  inwardly  resolved  to  tolerate  no  sectaries 
whatever.     Charles's  position  was  difficult  and  perplexing. 

Alterations  were  soon  made.  The  dioceses  in  England  had 
bishops  appointed  to  them,  though  it  was  not  until  the  next  par- 
liament, in  1G61,  that  the  bishops  took  their  places  among  the 
peers.  The  Liturgy  was  immediately  introduced  into  those  parish 
churches,  where  the  ministers  avowed  themselves  Episcopalians ; 
and,  already,  the  reign  of  persecution  had  commenced.  Even 
before  the  king  had  landed  at  Dover,  the  Episcopal  party  in  Wales 
were  busy  sending  sixty-eight  Quakers  to  gaol ;  while  the  prison 
at  Montgomery  was  so  full  of  Independents  and  Baptists  that  the 
governor  had  to  pack  them  into  garrets.  John  Milton  was  com- 
mitted to  the  custody  of  the  sergeant-at-arms,  and  was  declared 
to  be  disqualified  for  the  public  service  ;  while  his  "  Defence  of 
the  English  People  "  and  his  "  Eikonoclastes  "  were  ordered  to  be 
publicly  burned.  Oliver  Heywood  was  insolently  harassed  for  a 
twelvemonth  with  citations  to  appear  before  the  Consistory  Court 
at  York.  Philip  Henry  was  prosecuted  for  not  reading  the  Com- 
mon Prayer,  and  John  Howe  was  accused  of  treason  for  some 
utterance  in  the  pulpit.  During  the  summer  of  1660,  a  bill  was 
passed  by  parliament,  which  aimed  at  tlie  expulsion  of  all  who 
had  been  inducted  into  church  livings  during  the  Commonwealth, 
and  the  immediate  restoration  of  all  the  clergy  who  had  been 
expelled.  This  bill  included  a  proviso. to  the  effect  that  the  Pres- 
byterian and  Independent  ministers  should  not  be  bound  to  give 
back  livings  which  were  legally  vacant  when  they  obtained  them  ; 
but  there  was  another  that  almost  rendered  null  the  previous 
one,  viz.,  that  every  incumbent  should  be  excluded  that  had  not 
been  ordained  by  an  ecclesiastic,  or  had  renounced  his  ordination, 
or  had  petitioned  for  bringing  the  late  king  to  trial,  or  had  justi- 
fied his  trial  and  execution,  in  preaching  or  in  writing,  or  had 
committed  himself  in  the  vexed  question  of  infant  baptism. 

The  bill  failed  to  give  satisfaction  to  any  party.  The  Episco- 
palians complained  that  it  was  a  thing  of  mean  subterfuges  and 
compromises ;  while  the  Dissenters  alleged  that  the  Episcopalians 
were  monopolists  of  honours  and  preferments,  and  were  waiting 
to  renew  the  persecutions  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Archbishop  Usher,  who  died  in  1656,  had  left  behind  him  a 
scheme  of  union,  and  a  proposed  plan  of  church  government  by 


TWO  HUNDEED  YEARS  AGO.  1 3 

suffragan  bishops,  and  synods,  and  presbyteries  conjointly.  By 
this  plan  he  had  fondly  hoped  to  reconcile  the  two  great  religious 
parties,  the  Episcopalians  and  the  Presbyterians ;  and  the  latter, 
being  now  hopeless  of  obtaining  an  entire  supremacy,  professed 
their  willingness  to  make  Usher's  scheme  the  basis  of  neootiation. 
The  principal  ministers,  who  were  parties  to  this  proposal,  were 
Dr  Eeynolds,  Dr  Manton,  Dr  Bates,  Edward  Calamy,  and  Rich- 
ard Baxter.  They  were  jDromised  a  meeting  with  some  Epis- 
copal divines  in  the  presence  of  the  king ;  but  when  the  time 
appointed  came,  instead  of  a  meeting,  the  Presbyterians  received 
a  paper  rejecting  their  proposal,  but  telling  them  that  they  were 
all  to  meet  the  king  on  October  2 2d,  at  the  house  of  Lord  Claren- 
don, in  the  Strand,  and  that  his  Majesty  would  then  adjust  all 
their  religious  differences.  At  the  appointed  meeting  there  were 
present,  besides  the  king,  the  Dukes  of  Albemarle  and  Ormond, 
the  Earls  of  Manchester  and  Anglesea,  the  six  bishops  of  London, 
Worcester,  Salisbury,  Durham,  Exeter,  and  Lichtield,  and  six 
Presbyterian  ministers,  viz.,  Reynolds,  Spurstow,  Wallis,  Manton, 
Calamy,  and  Baxter.  The  Presbyterians  entrusted  their  cause  to 
the  eloquence  and  learning  of  Calamy  and  Baxter ;  while  the 
chief  speakers  on  the  Episcopalian  side  were  Dr  Gunning  and 
Bishop  Morley. 

Three  days  after  this  important  meeting,  Charles  published 
what  is  commonly  called  "  The  Healing  Declaration."  This  royal 
manifesto,  after  commending  the  Episcopalians,  and  acknowledg- 
ing the  moderation  of  the  Presbyterians,  promised — 1,  To  encourage 
religion ;  2,  To  appoint  suffragan  bishops  where  dioceses  were 
thought  to  be  too  large ;  8,  Not  to  allow  church  censures  to  be 
pronounced  by  bishops  without  the  advice  and  assistance  of  the 
presbyters ;  4,  To  give  deaneries  to  the  most  learned  and  pious 
presbyters  of  the  diocese  ;  5,  Not  to  allow  persons  to  come  to  the 
Lord's  Supper  without  confirmation  and  a  credible  profession  of 
their  faith  ;  and  6,  To  appoint  an  equal  number  of  learned  divines 
belonging  to  the  Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians  to  revise  the 
Liturgy. 

As  soon  as  this  Declaration  was  made  i^ublic,  bishoprics  were 
offered  to  Reynolds,  Baxter,  and  Calamy.  Reynolds  accepted  the 
see  of  Norwich ;  Baxter  and  Calamy  declined.  A  fortnight  after, 
royal  letters  were  issued  commanding  the  University  of  Cambridge 
to  confer  the  diploma  of  D.D.  on  the  three  eminent  Presbyterian 


14  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

ministers,  William  Bates,  Tliomas  Jacombe,  and  Eobert  Wilde, 
the  king  being  fully  satisfied  "  of  their  integrity  and  loyalty ;"  and, 
at  the  same  time,  a  bill  was  brought  into  the  House  of  Commons 
to  make  the  king's  "  Healing  Declaration"  law,  but  the  bill  was 
lost. 

As  time  advanced,  the  prospects  of  the  Dissenters  became  more 
gloomy.  On  January  2,  1661,  an  Order  in  Council  was  made 
against  Baptists,  Quakers,  and  other  sectaries  meeting  in  large 
numbers  and  at  unusual  times.  The  order  also  forbade  any  of 
their  assemlilies  being  held  out  of  their  own  parishes. 

Shortly  after  this,  at  the  request  of  Baxter,  Lord  Clarendon 
made  an  arrangement  for  carrying  into  effect  that  part  of  the 
king's  "  Healing  Declaration"  which  promised  a  revision  of  the 
Liturgy.  Twelve  bishops  and  nine  coadjutors  were  appointed  to 
represent  the  Episcopal  party,  and  twelve  leading  divines  and  nine 
coadjutors  to  represent  the  Presbyterian  party.  The  twelve  bishops 
belonged  to  the  dioceses  of  York,  London,  Durham,  Rochester, 
Chichester,  Sarum,  Worcester,  Lincoln,  Peterborough,  Chester, 
Carlisle,  and  Exeter.  Among  their  coadjutors  were  some  of  the 
most  eminent  men  of  the  day,  as  Dr  Heylin,  and  Dr  Pearson, 
immortalised  by  his  profoundly  able  work  on  the  Apostles'  Creed. 
The  twelve  Presbyterian  divines  included  Reynolds,  Manton, 
Calamy,  and  Baxter;  and  their  coadjutors  included  the  "silver- 
tongued"  William  Bates  and  Dr  Lightfoot.  The  place  of  meeting 
was  the  old  Savoy  Palace,  and  the  first  day  of  their  coming  together 
was  April  15,  1661.  Baxter  proposed  an  entirely  new  Liturgy; 
and,  in  the  short  space  of  a  fortnight,  prepared  one.  His  brethren 
meanwhile  were  employed  in  preparing  exceptions  to  the  old  one, 
which  Baxter  wished  to  set  aside.  Baxter  seemed  to  be  equal  to 
any  amount  of  work  assigned  to  him.  When  he  brought  his  com- 
pleted draft  of  the  new  Liturgy  to  his  co-commissioners,  instead 
of  finding  their  exceptions  to  the  old  Liturgy  finished,  he  found 
them  only  just  begun  ;  and,  as  both  the  draft  and  the  exceptions 
had  to  be  submitted  to  the  Savoy  Conference  at  the  same  time, 
there  was  no  alternative  but  to  wait  another  fortnight ;  during 
Avhich  Baxter  himself  prepared  as  many  exceptions  to  the  old 
prayer-book  as  filled  eight  closely-printed  folio  pages. 

On  the  Conference  reassembling,  the  Presbyterians  read  their 
paper,  pleading  that,  as  the  first  Reformers  composed  the  Liturgy 
so  as  to  draw  the  Papists  into  their  communion,  the  Liturgy  ought 


TWO  HUNDEED  YEARS  AGO.  15 

now  to  be  so  revised  as  to  unite  all  substantial  Protestants.  Hence 
it  was  suggested  that  certain  repetitions  should  be  omitted  ;  that 
the  Litany  should  be  turned  into  one  continued  prayer  ;  that  nei- 
ther Lent  nor  Saints'  Days  should  continue  to  be  observed  ;  that 
free  prayer  should  be  allowed  ;  that  the  Apocrypha  should  not  be 
read  in  the  daily  lessons  ;  that  the  word  "  minister"  should  be  used 
instead  of  the  word  "priest;"  and  "Lord's-day"  instead  of  "Sun- 
day;" that  the  Liturgy  was  defective  in  praise  and  thanksgiving  ; 
that  the  Confession  and  Catechism  were  imperfect ;  and  that  the 
surplice,  the  cross,  and  kneeling  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  were  im~ 
warrantable.  All  these,  however,  were  regarded  as  minor  objec- 
tions ;  and  the  main  ones  that  were  raised  were  against  the 
baptismal  service,  the  marriage  service,  the  service  for  the  visita- 
tion of  the  sick,  and  the  burial  service. 

When  the  objections  had  been  submitted  to  the  Conference,  the 
bishops  and  their  coadjutors  rejected  them  in  toto.  Baxter  was 
appointed  to  answer  the  reply  of  the  bishops,  and  went  out  of 
town,  to  Dr  Spurstow's  house  in  Hackney,  for  that  purpose.  In 
eight  days  his  rejoinder  was  finished.  Unprofitable  disputes  fol- 
lowed ;  the  Conference  broke  up ;  and  nothing  but  vexation  and 
sorrow  came  out  of  it. 

The  Presbyterians  were  now  treated  as  the  vanquished  party ; 
and  Baxter  especially  became  the  butt  for  malignant  marksmen. 
Almost  every  time  he  preached  he  was  accused  of  treason ;  and 
even  his  prayers  were  listened  to  with  suspicion.  Still,  as  the 
parliament  now  sitting  had  been  elected  before  the  Eestoration, 
the  Presbyterians  in  that  assembly  were  too  numerous  and  trouble- 
some to  permit  of  summary  suppression.  Hence,  in  March  16G1, 
a  new  election  was  ordered,  and  great  excitement  followed.  Alder- 
man Thompson,  "  a  godly  man  of  good  parts,  and  a  congre- 
gationalist,"  was  one  of  the  candidates  for  London ;  but  the  Eoyal- 
ists  objected  to  him,  because  he  was  "  so  fond  of  smoking  that  his 
breath  would  poison  a  whole  committee.'  Dr  Caryl  and  other 
eminent  ministers  held  a  fast.  Zachary  Crofton  preached  against 
bishops  "  every  Sunday  night,  with  an  infinite  auditory,  itching, 
and  applause ;"  and  Mr  Graffen  had  a  crowd  of  two  thousand  in 
the  streets,  who  could  not  get  into  his  meeting-house  to  hear  him 
"  bang  the  bishops." 

The  new  parliament  met  on  the  8th  of  May  16G1 ;  and  the 
change  from  Presbyterian  to  Episcopalian  predominancy  was  mani- 


16  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

fested  in  one  of  the  earliest  orders, — viz.,  that  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  on  the  Sunday  seven  night,  should  be  admi- 
nistered, at  St  Margaret's  Church,  according  to  the  form  prescribed 
in  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England ;  and  that  no  one  should 
be  admitted  a  member  of  that  House  who  neglected  to  partake  of 
the  Communion,  either  there  publicly,  or  afterwards  in  the  presence 
of  two  or  more  witnesses.  In  addition  to  this,  it  was  resolved 
that  "  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,"  the  well-known  symbol 
of  Presbyterian  ascendancy — which,  for  a  year  past,  had  been 
taken  down  from  the  walls  of  the  House  of  Commons — should  be 
burnt  by  the  common  hangman ;  and  this  was  done,  the  hangman 
first  tearing  the  document  into  pieces,  and  then  burning  the  frag- 
ments in  succession, — he  all  the  while  lifting  up  his  hands  and 
eyes  in  pious  indignation,  until  not  a  shred  was  left.* 

Before  the  year  was  ended,  the  bishops  took  their  place  in  the 
House  of  Lords ;  and  a  bill  was  passed  requiring  all  members  of 
corporations  to  swear  that  the  "  Solemn  League  and  Covenant 
was  unlawful ;  and  declaring  that  no  one  was  eligible  for  office 
who  had  not,  within  one  year  before,  taken  the  sacrament  accord- 
ino;  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  Eno-land." 

Added  to  this,  another  and  a  far  more  important  bill  was  in- 
troduced : — "  A  Bill  for  the  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers  and 
Administration  of  the  Sacraments."  The  bill  was  first  submitted 
to  Parliament  in  December  1661,  and  became  law  on  the  19th  of 
May  1662.  During  this  interval  of  five  months  the  greatest  ex- 
citement prevailed  throughout  the  nation.     Loud  and  fierce  were 


*  The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  was  a  contract  agreed  to  by  the  Scots,  in 
the  year  1638,  for  maintaining  their  religion  free  from  innovation.  In  1643  it 
was  brought  into  England;  and  on  February  2,  of  that  year,  it  was  enacted,  by  a 
joint  ordinance  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  "  that  the  League  and  Covenant 
should  be  solemnly  taken  and  subscribed,  in  all  places  throughout  the  kingdom 
of  England  and  dominion  of  .Wales,  by  all  persons  above  the  age  of  eighteen." 
Accordingly,  it  was  signed  by  most  of  the  members  of  the  two  houses  of  legis- 
lature, by  all  the  princij^al  officers  of  the  rebel  army,  by  all  the  Divines  of  the 
Assembly  then  sitting  at  Westminster,  and  by  a  large  number  of  the  people  in 
general.  Two  of  the  j^rincipal  vows  were — 1.  That  the  party  taking  and  sub- 
scribing the  Covenant  would  endeavour  to  "  bring  the  Churches  of  God  in  all  the 
three  kingdoms  to  the  nearest  conjunction  and  uniformity  in  religion,  confession 
of  faith,  and  form  of  church  government,  as  the  Directory  prescribes  for  worship 
and  catechising."  And,  2.  That  he  would  "endeavour,  without  respect  of  persons, 
to  extirpate  Popery  and  Prelacy — that  is  to  say,  church  government  by  arch- 
bishops and  bishops." 


TWO  HUNDEED  YEARS  AGO.  17 

the  diatribes  uttered  from  the  Episcopal  pulpit  against  Eound- 
heads,  Anabaptists,  and  Quakers.  Swarms  of  pamphlets  and 
broadsides  were  issued,  to  support  Church  and  State  by  argu- 
ment, but  more  frequently  by  ridicule  and  satire.  Many  of  these, 
as  "  Noctroft's  Maid  Whipt,"  and  the  "  Antidote  of  Melancholy 
made  up  in  Pills,"  were  coarse  and  filthy  in  a  high  degree.  Of 
course,  sharp  and  bitter  things  were  said  and  written  on  the  Non- 
conformists' side,  but  in  none  of  their  publications  is  there  any- 
thing like  the  abominable  and  indecent  scurrility  which  the 
royalist  press  published  against  them. 

Before  giving  a  synopsis  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  it  may  be 
well  to  say,  that  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  which  it  men- 
tions, was  the  book  as  revised  by  Convocation  in  November  1661. 
About  six  hundred  alterations  had  been  made  in  the  body  of  the 
volume.  Forms  respecting  the  weather,  prayers  to  be  used  at 
sea,  and  emendations  in  the  commination,  and  in  the  churching 
of  women  services  were  introduced.  The  calendar  was  revised, 
and  the  Apocrypha  appointed  to  be  read  in  the  daily  lessons. 
The  absolution  was  to  be  pronounced  by  the  "  priest,"  instead  of 
by  the  "  minister."  In  the  Litany,  the  words  "  rebellion  and 
schism"  were  added  to  the  petition  against  sedition  ;  and  the 
words,  "  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,"  were  substituted  for 
"  bishops,  pastors,  and  ministers  of  the  Church."  A  few  new 
collects  were  added,  and,  in  one  of  them,  a  new  epithet  was  added 
to  the  title  of  Charles  I.,  he  being  styled  "  our  most  religious 
king."  None  of  these  things  were  calculated  to  make  the  prayer- 
book  more  palatable  to  the  Presbyterian  and  Dissenting  parties, 
and  hence  the  terrible  rupture  occasioned  by  the  passing  of  the 
Act  of  Uniformity. 

By  that  act  it  was  provided,  that  "  every  parson,  vicar,  or 
other  minister  whatsoever,  now  enjoying  any  ecclesiastical  bene- 
fice or  promotion,  within  this  realm  of  England,"  who  neglected 
or  refused  to  declare  publicly,  before  his  congregation,  his  "  un- 
feigned assent  and  consent  to  the  use  of  all  things  contained  and 
prescribed"  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  on  some  Lord's-day 
before  the  feast  of  St  Bartholomew,  in  1662,  should  be  deprived  of 
all  his  spiritual  promotions  ;  and  that,  henceforth,  it  should  be 
lawful  for  all  patrons  and  donors  of  such  church  livings  to  pre- 
sent others  to  the  same,  as  though  the  person  or  persons  so 
offending  or  neglecting  were  dead.     The   act  further  provided, 

B 


18  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

that  all  deans,  canons,  and  prebendaries  ;  also  all  heads,  fellows, 
and  tutors  of  colleges;  and  likewise  all  schoolmasters,  keeping 
any  public  or  private  schools,  should,  before  the  same  feast  of 
St  Bartholomew,  subscribe  a  declaration  to  the  effect  that  they 
would  conform  to  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  now 
by  law  established  ;  and  that  they  renounced  all  obligation  from 
the  oath  commonly  called  "  The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant," 
and  regarded  it  as  an  unlawful  oath,  contrary  to  the  laws  and 
liberties  of  the  kingdom.  It  likewise  enacted  that  all  the  church 
functionaries  above-mentioned  who  refused  to  subscribe  to  this 
declaration  were  to  be  deprived  of  their  promotions  ;  and  all 
schoolmasters  who  refused  were  to  suffer  three  months'  imprison- 
ment. It  also  provided  that  if  any  minister,  not  being  a  foreigner, 
who  was  not  episcopally  ordained,  should  presume  to  administer 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  after  St  Bartholomew's  day, 
he  should,  for  every  such  offence,  forfeit  the  sum  of  £100  ;  and 
if  he  presumed  to  lecture  or  preach  in  any  church,  chapel,  or  other 
place  of  worship  whatever,  within  the  realm  of  England,  he  should 
suflFer  three  months'  imprisonment  in  the  common  gaol.  And 
another,  though  minor  provision  was,  that  the  parishioners  of 
every  parish  church,  at  their  own  cost,  should  provide  for  such 
church,  before  the  feast  of  St  Bartholomew,  a  true  printed  copy 
of  the  revised  Book  of  Common  Prayer  ;  and  that  they  should  be 
fined  £3  for  every  month,  after  St  Bartholomew's,  that  they  ne- 
glected to  obey  such  a  mandate. 

Such  was  the  substance  of  that  most  momentous  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment. What  were  the  results  ?  Terrible  were  the  struggles  in 
many  a  good  man's  breast  during  the  fourteen  weeks  elapsing  be- 
tween the  ]9th  of  May  and  the  24th  of  August  1662.  As  the 
corn  ripened,  and  the  country  rector  sat  with  his  wife  in  the  snug 
parlour,  and  looked  out  of  the  latticed  windows  on  the  children 
chasing  the  butterflies  in  the  garden,  or  gathering  daisies  on  the 
glebe,  he  had  to  decide  in  his  heart  and  conscience  whether  he 
should  leave  all  this,  or  whether  he  should  keep  it.  He  must 
either  conform,  or  he  and  his  family  must  go.  Such  was  the 
ugly  alternative.  The  vicarage  was  comfortable  and  commodious  ; 
the  means  of  usefulness  had  bright  attractions ;  and  hardest 
wrench  of  all  it  was,  to  snap  the  union  between  the  shepherd  and 
his  flock.  To  resolve  to  go,  required  now  and  then  a  woman's 
quiet  fortitude  to  reinforce  a  man's  more  loud  resolve. 


TWO  HUNDEED  YEAES  AGO,  ]  9 

Meanwhile,  mutterings  of  discontent  and  growlings  of  sedition 
began  to  be  heard  on  every  hand.  Kumours  circulated  that  some 
of  the  king's  regiments  were  disaffected  ;  that  trained  bands  were 
refractory  or  negligent ;  that  gunsmiths  were  dressing  arms  ;  and 
that  Lancashire  ministers  talked  little  less  than  treason.  The 
Court  was  uncertain  whether  to  execute  or  to  suspend  the  Act. 
Presbyterian  lords  j^leaded  for  indulgence  ;  but  Sheldon  was  op- 
posed to  it.  It  was  the  long  vacation,  and  few  of  the  council 
remained  in  town  to  decide  the  point.  The  nobility  were  at  their 
country  seats  enjoying  the  summer  months.  The  bishops  were 
performing  their  visitations.  Charles  was  at  Hampton  Court, 
joking  with  his  lords,  toying  with  his  mistresses,  watching  games 
in  the  tennis  court,  and  feeding  ducks  in  the  royal  ponds.  Time 
travelled  on,  and  the  23d  of  August  came.  All  Quakers  impri- 
soned in  the  gaols  of  London  and  Middlesex  were  released,  be- 
cause on  that  day  Charles's  consort,  Queen  Catherine,  first  came  "  to 
our  royal  palace  at  Westminster.""  The  Thames  was  covered  with 
boats  almost  without  number.  Music  floated  on  the  water,  and 
thundering  peals  roared  from  huge  cannon  on  the  shore.  Charles 
and  his  queen  sailed  in  an  open  vessel  covered  with  a  canopy  of 
cloth  of  gold,  which  was  supported  by  Corinthian  pillars  wreathed 
with  flowers,  festoons,  and  garlands.     This  was  Saturday. 

The  previous  Sunday  had  been  a  day  such  as  England  never 
knew,  either  before  or  since.*  Hundreds  of  faithful  ministers 
on  that  day  preached  farewell  sermons  to  heart-broken,  weeping 
flocks.  Churches  were  crowded  ;  aisles  and  stairs  were  crammed 
to  suff'ocation  ;  and  people  clung  to  the  open  windows  like 
swarms  of  bees.  It  would  have  been  pardonable  if  the  ministers 
had  mingled  with  the  loving  exhortations  addressed  to  the  dis- 
tressed crowds  before  them  sentiments  of  indignation  at  the  legis- 
lative act  which  was  the  means  of  their  removal.     But,  instead 

*  And  yet,  perhaps  this  is  hardly  true.  A  most  pitiful  picture  might  be  drawn 
of  the  clergymen  who,  twenty  years  previously,  had  been  expelled  from  the  same 
churches  by  the  ipse  dixit  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  whom  Bishop  Hackett  represents 
as  regarding  neither  parliaments  nor  patents — neither  canons  nor  scriptures — "  in 
comparison  of  some  new  light  shining  in  the  lantern  of  his  own  head."  Men  of 
learning  and  religion  were  in  many  instances  succeeded  by  "  mere  rhapsodists  and 
ramblers,"  "  cried  up  as  rare  soul-saving  preachers."  Not  a  few  venerable  and 
worthy  ministers,  expelled  by  the  rough  hand  of  violence,  "  lingered  out  their 
lives,  laden  and  almost  oppressed,  worried,  and  worn  out  with  fears,  anxieties, 
necessities,  rude  affronts,  and  remediless  afflictions."  A  great  deal  may  be  said 
on  both  sides  of  the  question. 


20  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

of  that,  the  discourses  were  as  calm  as  the  pastors  had  ever 
preached,  and  some  of  them  scarcely  alluded  to  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances of  the  time. 

A  week  after,  on  the  day  after  Queen  Catherine's  jubilant  re- 
ception, the  Act  of  Uniformity  was  enforced  in  all  its  rigour,  and 
upwards  of  two  thousand  ministers,  with  their  families,  were 
ejected  from  their  livings.* 

"What  a  scene,"  says  John  Wesley,  "is  opened  here.  The 
poor  Nonconformists  were  used  without  either  justice  or  mercy  ; 
and  many  of  the  Protestant  bishops  of  King  Charles  had  neither 
more  religion  nor  humanity  than  the  Popish  bishops  of  Queen 
Mary."f  "By  this  Act  of  Uniformity,  thousands  of  men,  guilty 
of  no  crime, — nothing  contrary  either  to  justice,  mercy,  or  truth, — 
were  stripped  of  all  they  had — of  their  houses,  lands,  revenues — 
and  driven  to  seek  where  they  could,  or  beg  their  bread.  For 
what?  Because  they  did  not  dare  to  worship  God  according  to 
other  men's  consciences  !"| 

A  large  majority  of  the  ministers  in  the  Church  conformed  ; 
and  these  may  be  divided  into  three  classes — first,  those  who  had 
been  Presbyterians  or  Independents,  or  other  sectaries,  and  who 
on  former  occasions  had  more  or  less  opposed  Episcopacy  and 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer ;  secondly,  those  who  had  already 
conformed  to  previous  changes — passively  submitting  to  their 
superiors  for  the  time  being,  be  they  who  they  might ;  and, 
thirdly,  a  class  of  consistent  Episcopalians,  including — 1.  such  as 
had  been  allowed  to  hold  their  livings,  and  to  use  the  Prayer-book 
even  during  the  Commonwealth ;  2.  such  as  had  been  ejected 
from  their  benefices,  but  had  been  reinstated  since  the  Eestora- 
tion ;  and,  8.  such  as  had  been  recently  ordained,  and  inducted 
into  livings  during  the  last  twelve  months.  Many  of  these  Con- 
formists— as  Tillotson,  Gurnall,  Stillingfleet,  Cudworth,  and  others 
— were  men  of  high  character ;  but  many  others  were  low,  mean, 
grovelling  spirits,  who  valued  the  priest's  office  only  because  it 
gave  them  a  piece  of  bread.  In  a  publication  of  that  period,  "  the 
parsonage  house"  is  described  " as  holding  scarcely  anything  but 
a  budget  of  old  stitched  sermons,  hung  up  behind  the  door,  with 

*  Baxter  estimates  the  number  of  the  ejected  and  deprived  as  from  1800  to  2000. 
Calamy  gives  it  at  2400.  A  catalogue  in  Dr  Williams's  library  gives  2257.  A 
manuscript,  by  Oliver  Heywood,  gives  2500. 

t  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  297.  T  Ihid.,  vol.  xi.  p.  37. 


TWO  HUNDKED  YEARS  AGO.  21 

a  few  broken  girths,  two  or  three  yards  of  whipcord,  and  perhaps 
a  saw  and  a  liammer  to  prevent  dilapidations."  Macaulay,  speak- 
ing of  the  rural  clergy,  says :  "  Those  who  could,  sported  a  few 
Greek  and  Latin  words  for  the  benefit  of  the  squire,  and  pitched 
their  discourses  so  as  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  fine 
clothes  and  ribbons  in  the  highest  seats  of  the  church,  instead  of 
seeking  to  instruct  those  of  tlie  congregation  who  had  to  mind 
the  plough  and  to  mend  the  hedge."  And  again,  in  reference  to 
the  clergy  in  cities  and  corporations,  he  writes  :  "  There  were  men 
whose  parts  and  education  were  no  more  than  sufficient  for  their 
reading  the  lessons,  after  twice  conning  over.  An  unlearned  rout 
of  contemptible  men,"  says  he,  "rushed  into  holy  orders  just  to 
read  the  prayers,  and  who  understood  very  little  more  of  their 
meaning  than  a  hollow  pipe  would,  made  of  tin  or  wainscot." 
Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  character  of  many  of  the  clergy 
who  conformed  in  1662,  from  the  fact  that  three  years-  after, 
during  the  great  plague  in  London,  instead  of  firmly  remaining 
at  the  post  of  duty  when  most  needed,  numbers  of  the  London 
clergy,  like  craven  spirits,  rushed  off  into  the  country,  leaving 
their  pulpits  to  be  occupied,  and  their  afflicted  and  dying  parish- 
ioners to  be  cared  for,  by  the  very  ministers  who  had  been  ejected 
by  the  Act  of  Uniformity. 

The  Nonconformist  ministers  may  be  divided  into  several 
classes : — 1.  Some  were  moderate  Episcopalians,  and  would  have 
conformed  to  the  Prayer-book  and  to  the  Church  government  that 
were  in  use  previous  to  the  Commonwealth,  but  could  not  give 
their  unfeigned  assent  to  all  things  in  the  Prayer-book  as  revised 
by  the  Convocation  of  1661.  2.  Some  were  of  no  sect  or  party, 
but  liked  what  was  good  in  all,  without  being  able  to  adopt  the 
Prayer-book  as  prescribed.  3.  Some  were  Presbyterians,  of  whom 
Baxter  says  :  "  They  were  the  soberest  and  most  judicious,  unani- 
mous, peaceable,  faithful,  able,  and  constant  ministers  that  he  had 
ever  heard  or  read  of  in  the  Christian  world."  4.  Some  were  In- 
dependents, of  whom  the  same  writer  says  :  "  They  were  serious, 
godly  men,  some  of  them  moderate,  little  differing  from  the  Pres- 
byterians, and  as  well  ordered  as  any ;  but  others  were  more  raw 
and  self-conceited,  and  addicted  to  separations  and  divisions,  their 
zeal  being  greater  than  their  knowledge."  Perhaps  Baxter  was 
hardly  an  unprejudiced  witness  respecting  either  the  Presbyterians 
or  the  Independents. 


22  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY, 

Amongst  the  ministers  expelled  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity, 
there  were  not  a  few  of  the  most  remarkable  men  that  the  Church 
in  this  country  has  ever  had.  Most  of  them  were  excellent 
scholars,  judicious  divines,  faithful  and  laborious  pastors ;  men 
full  of  zeal  for  God  and  religion,  undaunted  in  the  service  of  their 
Master,  diligent  students,  and  powerful  preachers.  Especially 
were  they  men  of  great  devotion,  pleading  for  almost  hours  to- 
gether at  the  throne  of  grace,  and  there  inspired  with  faith,  and 
love,  and  zeal,  which  raised  them  to  the  highest  rank  of  heroes, 
and  made  them  willing,  not  only  to  lose  their  livings,  but  to  suffer 
even  martyrdom  itself,  rather  than  to  prove  traitorous  to  Christ  and 
to  the  liberties  of  His  Church.  More  than  two  thousand  of  such 
men  were  ejected  from  the  Church  benefices  of  this  country  in 
1662,  and  a  passing  glance  at  some  of  them  may  help  the  reader 
to  remember  others. 

In  this  portrait-gallery,  let  us  point  to  Edmund  Calamy,  who 
studied  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  hours  a-day,  was  one  of  the  most 
popular  preachers  in  the  capital,  and  whose  week-day  lectures 
were  attended  by  such  numbers  of  the  nobility,  that  there  were 
seldom  fewer  than  sixty  carriages  at  his  church's  gates.  William 
Bates,  of  graceful  mien  and  comely  person,  generally  reputed  one 
of  the  best  orators  of  the  age, — his  voice  charming,  his  language 
neat,  his  style  pleasing,  his  learning  vast,  his  piety  conspicuous, 
and  his  "  Harmony  of  the  Divine  Attributes"  alone  sufficient  to 
immortalise  his  memory.  Samuel  Annesley,  who  declared  he 
remembered  not  the  time  when  he  was  not  converted ;  the  de- 
scendant of  a  good  family,  whose  estate  was  considerable  ;  a  man 
of  a  large  soul,  of  flaming  zeal,  and  of  extensive  usefulness ; 
faithful  in  the  ministry  for  fifty-five  long  years,  during  the  last 
thirty  of  which  he  enjoyed  an  uninterrupted  assurance  of  God's 
forgiving  love ;  a  man  of  moderate  learning,  though  an  LL.D., 
but  a  most  devoted  Christian,  and  the  father  of  Susannah  "Wesley. 
Joseph  Caryl,  a  man  of  great  piety,  learning,  and  modesty,  and 
author  of  a  marvellous  Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Job,  originally 
published  in  eleven  volumes  quarto,  Thomas  Brookes,  a  very 
affecting  and  useful  preacher,  rich  in  homely  phrases  and  familiar 
figures,  and  whose  "Apples  of  Gold"  are  still  prized  as  much  as 
ever.  Matthew  Pool,  who  spent  ten  years  upon  his  "  Synopsis 
Criticorum,"  in  five  volumes  folio,  and  who,  during  its  compila- 
tion, used  to  rise  between  three  and  four  o'clock  every  morning. 


TWO  HUNDEED  YEAKS  AGO.  23 

Thomas  Manton,  a  man  of  great  learning,  judgment,  and  integrity, 
and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him  ;  endowed  with  extraordinary 
knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  his  sermons  clear  and  convinc- 
ing ;  his  delivery  natural,  eloquent,  quick,  and  powerful ;  his  piety 
answerable  to  his  doctrines ;  and,  to  say  nothing  of  his  other 
publications,  which  were  very  numerous,  his  discourses,  including 
those  on  the  119th  Psalm,  published  in  five  volumes  folio.  Thomas 
Gouge,  who,  besides  preaching  and  visiting,  catechised  his  church 
every  morning  the  year  round  ;  seldom  merry,  and  yet  never  sad ; 
a  man  who  set  up  and  established  three  or  four  hundred  schools 
in  Wales,  which,  to  a  great  extent,  were  supported  by  himself. 
Thomas  Watson,  eminent  in  the  gift  of  prayer,  a  hard  student,  a 
popular  preacher,  and  author  of  "A  Body  of  Divinity,"  in  the 
shape  of  sermons  on  the  "Assembly's  Catechism."  John  Good- 
win, learned,  clear-headed,  and  fluent ;  a  thorough  Arminian,  and 
the  author  of  "Eedemption  Redeemed."  John  Owen,  whose 
proficiency  in  learning  was  such,  that  he  was  admitted  to  the 
University  when  he  was  a  child  only  twelve  years  old  ;  and  who 
pursued  his  studies  with  such  diligence  that,  for  several  years,  he 
allowed  himself  but  four  hours'  sleep  a-night ;  tall  in  stature, 
affable  in  temper,  charitable  in  spirit,  and  a  friend  of  peace ;  a 
man  of  enormous  learning,  and  whose  labours  as  a  minister  were 
almost  incredible ;  eminent  for  piety,  an  excellent  preacher,  and 
whose  vsTitings  are  almost  enough  to  fill  a  library.  Stephen  Char- 
nock,  who  spent  most  of  his  time  in  his  study,  except  on  Sundays, 
when,  by  his  sermons  in  the  pulpit,  he  showed  how  well  he  had 
employed  the  week  ;  a  man  of  strong  judgment  and  lively  imagi- 
nation; well  skilled  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  ;  a  recluse,  whose  library  was  burnt  in  the  great 
fire  of  London,  and  who  was  writing  his  discourses  on  the  "  At- 
tributes of  God,"  when  a  peaceful  death  removed  him  to  heaven. 
Thomas  Harrison,  of  whom  Lord  Thomund  used  to  say,  "  He  had 
rather  hear  Dr  Harrison  say  grace  over  an  egg,  than  hear  the 
bishops  pray  and  preach."  John  Plavel,  an  unwearied  student, 
with  an  immense  amount  of  both  divine  and  human  learning ;  a 
plain  but  popular  preacher,  and  the  well-known  author  of  "  Hus- 
bandry Spiritualised."  Isaac  Ambrose,  who,  once  a  year,  for  the 
space  of  a  month,  retired  to  a  hut,  in  a  wood  near  Preston,  and, 
avoiding  all  human  converse,  devoted  himself  to  religious  con- 
templation.   Richard  Alleine,  pious,  prudent,  diligent,  and  whose 


24)  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

well-known  practical  writings  have  been  blessed  to  thousands. 
Joseph  Alleine,  of  solid  intellect  and  great  piety ;  a  man  whose 
imprisonment  for  preaching  hastened  his  death  at  the  early  age  of 
thirty-five,  and  whose  "Alarm  to  the  Unconverted"  has  been  read 
by  myriads.  Oliver  Heywood,  who,  besides  his  stated  work  on 
Sundays,  one  year  preached  more  than  a  hundred  times,  kept  fifty 
fast  days  and  nine  days  of  thanksgiving,  and,  in  the  service  of  his 
Master,  travelled  fourteen  hundred  miles.  Philip  Henry,  who 
preached  a  funeral  sermon  for  every  person  whom  he  buried,  but 
whose  excessive  modesty  was  such  that  he  would  publish  nothing 
that  he  wrote.  John  Howe,  who,  when  a  young  minister  in  De- 
vonshire, used  to  perform  divine  service  on  fast-days  (at  that  time 
frequent)  as  follows : — At  nine  in  the  morning  he  prayed  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  ;  then  read  the  Scriptures  and  expounded  three 
quarters  of  an  hour ;  then  prayed  an  hour ;  then  preached  an- 
other ;  then  prayed  half  an  hour,  after  which  the  people  sung  for 
fifteen  minutes ;  he  then  prayed  an  hour  more,  preached  another, 
and  then,  with  a  prayer  of  half  an  hour,  concluded  a  service  which 
lasted  from  nine  in  the  morning  until  a  quarter  past  three  in  the 
afternoon ; — John  Howe,  in  person  tall  and  graceful ;  with  a 
piercing  but  pleasant  eye ;  singularly  great  in  ministerial  qualifi- 
cations ;  his  power  in  prayer  marvellous,  and  his  writings  too  well 
known  to  need  description.  And  last,  but  not  least,  Eichard 
Baxter,  a  man  to  whom  Lord  Chancellor  Clarendon  oflFered  a 
bishopric,  and  whom  Judge  Jeffries,  another  government  official, 
addressed  thus  : — "  Richard,  Eichard !  thou  art  an  old  knave 
Thou  hast  written  books  enow  to  fill  a  cart,  every  one  of  them  as 
full  of  sedition,  indeed  treason,  as  an  egg  is  full  of  meat ;" — Bax- 
ter, "a  man,"  says  his  contemporary,  William  Bates,  "  with  a  noble 
negligence  of  style ;  for  his  great  mind  could  not  stoop  to  the 
affected  eloquence  of  words ;" — a  man  animated  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  breathing  celestial  fire  to  inspire  life  into  sinners  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins  ;  a  man  whose  expulsion  from  the  Church 
gave  him  time  to  write  and  publish  most  of  his  invaluable  books, 
some  of  which  have  been  the  means  of  converting  more  men  from 
sin  to  holiness  than  any  other  books  in  modern  times ; — a  man, 
says  Dr  Barrow,  "  whose  practical  writings  were  never  mended, 
and  his  controversial  ones  seldom  confuted;" — a  man  holding 
constant  communion  with  God,  and  living  in  charity  with  men ; 


TWO  HUNDKED  YEARS  AGO.  25 

whose  life  was  a  living  sermon,  and  his  conversation  becoming  a 
citizen  of  heaven. 

Such  were  some  of  the  two  thousand  martyr  spirits  who  were 
ruthlessly  ejected  from  their  churches  and  their  homes  in  1662, 
and,  for  years  afterwards,  had  to  live  in  obscurity  and  silence ; 
yea  more,  not  only  were  they  doomed  to  silence,  but  to  suffering. 
In  1664  the  "  Conventicle  Act"  was  passed,  which  provided  that 
"  every  person  above  sixteen  years  of  age  present  at  any  meeting 
of  more  than  five  persons  besides  the  household,  under  a  pretence 
of  any  exercise  of  religion,  in  other  manner  than  is  the  practice 
of  the  Church  of  England,  shall,  for  the  first  offence,  be  sent  to 
gaol  three  months,  till  he  pay  a  £5  fine ;  for  the  second  offence, 
six  months,  till  he  pay  a  £10  fine ;  and  for  the  third  offence,  be 
transported  to  some  of  the  American  plantations."  The  execution 
of  this  execrable  act,  to  a  great  extent,  was  committed  to  the  king's 
soldiers,  who  broke  open  every  house  where  they  fancied  a  few 
Nonconformists  might  be  gathered  together  for  sacred  service. 
Close,  unhealthy  prisons  were  soon  crammed  with  conscientious 
victims,  men  and  women,  old  and  young ;  whilst  others  were 
ruined  in  their  estates  by  bribing  the  corrupt  and  rapacious 
myrmidons  of  a  licentious  and  persecuting  court.  If  a  few  of 
these  persecuted  people  happened  to  be  driven  to  madness  and 
insurrection,  as  now  and  then  occurred,  they  were  strung  up  on 
the  gallows,  a  dozen  at  a  time,  the  good-natured  king  rarely  exer- 
cising the  prerogative  of  mercy  on  their  behalf. 

In  1665  the  plague  broke  out  in  London,  and  swept  away  one 
hundred  thousand  of  the  inhabitants.  The  poltroon  ministers  in  the 
city  churches  fled,  and  the  ejected  ministers  re-entered  the  forsaken 
pulpits,  and  tried  to  benefit  the  terror-stricken  people,  whom  the 
new-fledged  parsons  had  cowardly  left  to  the  pestilence  and  the 
devil.  The  parliament,  frightened  from  London,  met  in  Oxford  ; 
but  there,  instead  of  showing  kindness  to  the  men  who  were  so 
bravely  doing  duty  in  the  city  of  the  plague,  they  actually  added 
injury  to  injury,  by  passing  the  execrable  "  Five  Mile  Act,"  which 
provided  that  it  should  be  a  penal  offence  for  any  Nonconformist 
minister  to  teach  in  a  school,  or  to  come  within  five  miles 
(except  as  a  traveller  in  passing)  of  any  city,  borough,  or  cor- 
porate town,  or  of  any  place  in  which  he  had  preached  or  taught 
since  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  unless  he  had  pre- 


26  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

viously  taken  the  oath  of  non-resistance — to  wit,  that  it  is  not 
lawful,  under  any  pretence  whatever,  to  take  arms  against  the 
kino-,  or  against  those  that  are  commissioned  by  him,  or  to  endea- 
vour to  make  any  alteration  of  the  government,  either  in  Church 

or  State. 

What  was  the  result  of  all  this  ?  An  amount  of  suffering  was 
endured  far  greater  than  had  been  inflicted,  in  the  same  space  of 
time,  since  the  days  of  the  Reformation.  Jeremy  White  collected 
a  list  of  the  names  of  Nonconformist  sufferers,  amounting  to 
sixty  thousand,  and  he  states  that  of  these  sufferers  five  thousand 
died  in  prison.  Informers  skulked  about  cottages,  garrets,  back 
rooms,  stables,  and  outhouses,  wherever  they  suspected  a  handful 
of  quiet  Christians  might  be  assembled  to  hear  the  word  of  life 
from  the  lips  of  an  old  pastor;  and  despite  curtains,  shutters, 
trap-doors,  and  other  simple  devices  to  ensure  safety,  seized  on 
their  hapless  victims,  and  dragged  them  before  merciless  magis- 
trates, who,  with  savage  joy,  doomed  them  to  deep,  dark  prisons. 
Some,  in  search  of  godly  quietude,  wandered  far  away,  others 
secreted  themselves  in  fields  and  woods,  but  the  more  daring 
remained  in  their  former  dwellings,  and  met  to  worship  God,  in 
consequence  of  which  they  were  led  off  to  prison.  Students, 
deprived  of  all  means  of  subsistence,  had  to  lay  aside  their  books, 
take  up  the  spindle,  earn  a  few  pence  at  knitting,  and  live  on  the 
coarsest  fare.  Closets,  beds,  tubs,  hay-ricks,  and  other  places  of 
concealment  were  haunted  by  ruffian  soldiers,  pointing  a  musket 
at  the  door,  or  thrusting  a  sword  into  the  straw.  Troopers 
made  no  scruple  of  rushing  into  a  good  man's  house,  while  he 
was  at  prayer,  and  of  threatening,  while  holding  a  pistol  at  his 
head,  to  blow  out  his  brains,  unless  he  ceased  from  his  whining 
cant. 

These  were  days  of  terror  and  of  sufiering  such  as  Englishmen 
now  seldom  think  about.  Thousands  of  disgraceful  and  heart- 
rending facts  might  be  stated.  Sufiice  it  to  remark  that,  not- 
withstanding the  severity  of  law,  the  harshness  of  magistrates,  the 
brutality  of  constables,  the  deceitfulness  of  spies,  and  the  rudeness 
of  the  rabble.  Nonconformists  continued  as  numerous  as  ever. 
Their  firmness  of  character,  their  plain,  practical,  and  awakening 
ministry,  the  purity  of  their  morals,  their  strict  observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  their  care  for  family  religion,  their  succession  of  able 
and  learned  preachers,  the  disgust  at  the  persecutions  they  were 


TWO  HUN  DEED  YEARS  AGO.  27 

made  to  suffer,  and  the  reaction  produced  by  pushing  High 
Church  principles  to  an  unbearable  extent,  in  the  short  space  of 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  brought  about  the  English  Eevolution  of 
1 688,  and  obtained  for  them  that  which  is  the  birthright  of  all, 
liberty  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  con- 
sciences. 

Samuel  Wesley  began  life  amid  all  this  royal  perfidy,  legalised 
suffering,  and  national  excitement,  and,  as  we  shall  shortly  see,  he 
was  the  son  of  one  of  the  two  thousand  persecuted  and  martyr-like 
ministers,  ejected  from  their  churches  and  their  homes  by  the 
tyrannic  Act  of  Uniformity,  passed  and  enforced  in  the  year  1662. 

[This  chapter  has  been  compiled  principally  from  Baxter's  Zi/e  and  Times; 
Calamy's  Nonconformist  Memorials ;  Calamy's  Life  and  Times;  Macaulay's  His- 
tory; Knight's  Pictorial  History  of  England;  Stoughton's  Church  and  State  Two 
Hundred  Years  Ago;  Alleine's  Memorial,  by  Stanford;  Gauden's  Ecclesice  Angli- 
cance  Suspiria,  1659;  Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  1714;  History  of  Modern 
Enthusiasm,  1757  ;  Rees'  Encyclopcedia ;  Encyclopcedia  Britannica;  and  from  tracts 
and  pamphlets  too  numerous  to  mention.] 


CHAPTER  11. 

PAKENTAGE — 1600-1670. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  the  grandson  of  Bartholomew  Wesley,  rector 
of  Catherston,  in  Dorsetshire.  Bartholomew  Wesley  was  born 
about  the  year  1600 ;  but  the  place  of  his  nativity  is  not  known. 
He  received  a  university  education,  a  fact  indicating,  to  some  ex- 
tent, the  circumstances  and  the  religious  opinions  of  his  parents. 
Calamy  informs  us,  that,  while  at  the  university,  Bartholomew 
Wesley  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  physic,  as  well  as  of  divi- 
nity ;  and  the  knowledge  which  he  acquired  was  of  great  advantage 
to  him  in  the  dark  days  of  his  after  life.  In  1640  he  was  inducted 
to  the  rectory  of  Charmouth,  and  in  1650  to  that  of  Catherston  ; 
both  of  which  he  held  until  his  ejectment  in  1662. 

Catherston  and  Charmouth  are  villages  in  the  south-western 
extremity  of  Dorsetshire ;  the  former  about  a  mile  distant  from 
the  latter.  Catherston  stands  on  an  eminence,  and  Charmouth  in 
the  valley  adjoining  it. 

Like  many  others,  Bartholomew  Wesley  was  driven  from  his 
rectories  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  After  this,  though  he  preached 
occasionally,  he  had  to  support  himself  and  his  family  by  the 
practice  of  physic.  Calamy  says  he  used  a  peculiar  plainness  of 
speech,  which  hindered  his  being  an  acceptable,  popular  preacher. 

Nothing  more  is  known  of  Bartholomew  Wesley,  except  a  story 
related  by  Lord  Clarendon,  embellished  by  Anthony  a  Wood,  and 
retailed  by  Rapin  and  others.  Wood  calls  him  "the  fanatical 
minister,  sometime  of  Charmouth,  in  Dorsetshire,"  who,  in  1651, 
had  like  to  have  "  betrayed  Lord  Wilmot  and  King  Charles  II., 
when  they  continued  incognito  in  that  county ;"  but  Wood  was 
a  man  so  bitter  and  intolerant  that  all  he  says  ought  to  be  received 
with  caution. 

The  substance  of  the  story,  as  given  by  Clarendon  and  others. 


PARENTAGE.  29 

is  as  follows: — After  the  battle  of  Worcester,  in  1651,  Charles 
II.  wished  to  escape  to  France,  and  it  was  privately  arranged 
that  the  vessel,  in  which  he  was  to  cross  the  channel,  was  to  be 
near  Charmouth  on  the  night  of  September  22d.  A  man  was 
sent  to  engage  for  that  nig;ht  the  best  rooms  at  the  inn,  at  Char- 
mouth,  for  a  pretended  wedding  party,  who  wished  to  stop  to 
refresh  themselves  and  horses.  All  this  being  arranged,  the  party 
arrived  at  the  inn,  and  were  secretly  assured  that  about  midnight 
the  long  boat,  to  take  them  to  the  vessel,  would  be  at  the  place 
appointed.  The  King  and  Lord  Wilmot  waited  at  the  inn  ;  and 
Colonel  Wyndam  and  his  man  Peters  went  to  the  sea-side  to  look 
for  the  boat ;  but  looked  all  night  in  vain.  At  break  of  day,  they 
urged  the  king  and  Lord  Wilmot  quickly  to  escape  from  Char- 
mouth  for  fear  of  treachery.  The  reason  why  the  boat  had  not 
come,  as  was  agreed,  was,  because  the  wife  of  the  man  who  had 
charge  of  it  suspected  what  was  transpiring,  and  locked  her 
husband  in  his  chamber,  and  would  on  no  account  permit  him 
egress.  While  Lord  Wilmot  was  obtaining  this  information, 
a  blacksmith  of  the  name  of  Hammet  *  was  requested  to  shoe  his 
lordship's  horse.  The  smith,  from  the  fashion  of  the  shoes,  de- 
clared they  had  been  made,  not  in  the  west,  but  in  the  north. 
Henry  Hull,i-  the  hostler,  hearing  this,  stated  that  the  company, 
of  whom  Wilmot  was  one,  had  sat  up  all  night,  and  kept  their 
horses  saddled.  It  was  at  once  inferred,  that  the  party  who  had 
departed  from  Charmouth  that  morning,  was  either  the  king  and 
his  friends,  or  some  of  the  king's  distinguished  adherents.  The 
hostler  ran  to  Wesley,  the  minister,  to  ask  his  counsel.  Wesley 
was  at  his  morning  exercise,  and  being  somewhat  long-winded, 
he  wearied  the  hostler's  patience,  who  returned  to  the  blacksmith's 
shop  without  telling  his  suspicions.  In  the  meantime.  Lord  Wil- 
mot had  mounted  and  was  gone.  The  blacksmith  then  told  Wesley 
what  had  happened.  Wesley  went  to  the  inn  to  make  further 
inquiries,  and  then  went  with  the  blacksmith  to  a  magistrate,  to 
give  him  information,  that  warrants  might  be  issued  for  the 
apprehension  of  the  suspected  fugitives.  No  warrants,  however, 
were  obtained ;  but  a  party  pursued  the  king  and  his  friends  as  far 
as  Dorchester,  where  the  pursuit  was  ended. 

Such  is  the  story  in  brief ;  but  Clarendon  adds  that  the  day 
when  Charles  and  his  friends  were  waiting  at  Charmouth  was  a 
*  Gent.  Mag.,  1785,  p.  427.  t  Ihid. 


80  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

day  appointed  by  the  Parliament  for  a  solemn  fast,  and  that  a 
fanatical  weaver,  who  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  parliamentary 
army,  was  ijreaching  against  the  king  in  a  little  chapel  fronting 
the  obscure  inn  where  his  Majesty  was  stopping ;  that,  to  avoid 
suspicion,  Charles  was  among  the  weaver's  audience  ;  and  that 
this  was  the  man  who  hastened  to  make  inquiries  at  the  inn,  and 
that  applied  to  a  magistrate  for  a  warrant.    , 

John  Wesley's  account  of  this  affair  is  short.  Like  Clarendon,  he 
states,  that  the  minister  was  a  weaver,  but  omits  to  state  that  he  was 
his  own  great-grandfather.  He  writes  : — "  Pursuing  his  journey 
to  the  sea-side,  Charles  once  more  had  a  very  providential  escape 
from  a  little  inn,  where  he  set  up  for  the  night.  The  day  had  been 
appointed  by  parliament  a  solemn  fast ;  and  a  weaver,  who  had 
been  a  soldier  in  the  parliament  army,  was  preaching  against  the 
king  in  a  little  chapel  fronting  the  house.  Charles,  to  avoid  sus- 
picion, was  himself  among  the  audience.  It  happened  that  a  smith, 
of  the  same  principles  with  the  weaver,  had  been  examining  the 
horses  belonging  to  the  passengers,  and  came  to  assure  the  preacher 
that  he  knew  by  the  fashion  of  the  shoes,  that  one  of  the  strangers' 
horses  came  from  the  north.  The  preacher  immediately  aflfirmed 
that  this  horse  could  belong  to  no  other  than  Charles  Stuart,  and 
instantly  went  with  a  constable  to  search  the  inn.  But  Charles 
had  left  before  the  constable's  arrival."  * 

In  a  book  entitled  "  Miraculum  Basilicon,"  by  A.  J.,  (Abraham 
Jennings,)  and  published  in  1664<,  there  are  a  few  other  particulars, 
in  reference  to  this  occurrence,  possessed  of  some  interest.  The 
author  calls  Wesley  "  the  puny  parson  of  the  place,  and  a  most 
devoted  friend  to  the  parricides;"  and  designates  the  "morning 
exercise  "  in  which  he  was  engaged,  when  the  hostler  went  to  him, 
"  his  long  breathed  devotions,  and  bloody  prayers."  Wesley  having 
heard  the  rumour  about  the  travellers  at  the  inn,  went  to  the  inn- 
keeper to  make  inquiries.  The  writer  says,  "  Wesley,  this  pitiful 
dwindling  pastor,  posted  to  the  innkeeper,  and  with  most  eager  blus- 
terations,  catechised  him  concerning  what  travellers  he  had  lodged 
that  night ;  from  whence  they  came,  and  whither  they  would,  and 
what  they  did  there  ?  His  suspicions  being  increased  by  the  answers 
he  received,  he  went  to  Dr  Butler,  the  next  justice  of  the  peace, 
requiring  a  warrant,  by  which  he  would  stir  up  the  people  and 
the  soldiers  to  endeavour  the  apprehending  of  the  king.     The 

•  Wesley's  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.  p.  230. 


PARENTAGE.  31 

justice  having  refused  to  grant  the  warrant,  Captain  Massey,  who 
was  in  the  neighbourhood,  at  once  gathered  as  many  soldiers  as 
he  was  able,  and  followed  after  the  fugitives  in  the  way  towards 
London,  until  he  came  to  Dorchester ;  but,  by  a  most  divine  in- 
stinct, the  king  turned  another  way,  crossing  the  country  a 
little  beyond  Bridport,  and  so  escaped  from  his  pursuer  Captain 
Massey ! " 

Dr  A.  Clarke  has,  with  great  earnestness,  endeavoured  to  make 
it  clear  that  Bartholomew  Wesley  was  not  the  man  who  ti-ied  to 
entrap  King  Charles ;  and,  if  Clarendon's  description  was  literally 
correct,  that  the  preacher  was  a  weaver,  there  would  be  presump- 
tive evidence  in  favour  of  Clarke's  opinion.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
AVesley  might  have  been  in  the  parliamentary  army ;  but,  remem- 
bering that  he  received  his  education  in  the  Oxford  University,  it 
is  hardly  probable  that  he  was  a  weaver  previous  to  his  removal 
there.  The  only  reasonable  way  to  reconcile  Wood's  statement 
that  Wesley  was  the  minister  who  informed,  with  Clarendon's 
assertion  that  the  preacher  was  a  weaver,  is  to  suppose  that,  on 
account  of  the  smallness  of  his  income,  Bartholomew  Wesley,  like 
many  others,  found  it  expedient  to  have  a  spinning-wheel,  and  to 
weave  his  home-spun  yarns  into  home-made  cloths.  Admit  such 
a  supposition,  and  all  difficulties  vanish.  Wesley  might  have  been 
in  the  army;  in  such  a  sense,  he  might  be  a  weaver;  and  he 
might  be  preaching,  and  might  have  King  Charles  in  his  Char- 
mouth  congregation  on  the  day  already  mentioned. 

Dr  A.  Clarke  seems  to  be  exceedingly  unwilling  to  admit  that 
Bartholomew  Wesley  was  guilty  of  an  act  so  mean  as  that  of 
giving  information  concerning  King  Charles.  As  to  the  meanness 
or  merit  of  such  an  act,  opinions  will  differ.  We  submit,  how- 
ever, that,  in  such  a  case,  Bartholomew  Wesley  only  did  his  duty. 
Probably  he  had  been  in  the  parliamentary  army,  and  had  fought 
for  the  emancipation  of  his  country  from  the  perfidious  thraldom 
of  the  Stuart  dynasty.  He  was  now,  by  the  authority  of  the  par- 
liamentary government,  the  appointed  clergyman  of  the  two 
parishes  where  he  lived.  Only  twelve  days  before  the  attempt  of 
Charles  to  escape  to  France  from  Charmouth,  the  Parliament  had 
issued  a  proclamation,  threatening  those  who  concealed  the  king, 
or  any  of  his  party  ;  and  on  the  very  day  when  it  was  arranged 
for  the  plan  of  escape  to  France  to  be  carried  out,  that  proclama- 
tion had  been  published  two  miles  hence,  in  the  adjacent  town  of 


32  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

Lyme.  Let  the  reader  bear  all  this  in  mind,  and  he  will  probably 
conclude  that  Dr  A.  Clarke's  earnest  attempt  to  clear  Bartholomew 
Wesley  from  the  charge  of  giving  information  concerning  the 
royal  fugitive,  was  a  labour  of  love  not  needed ;  and  that  the 
whole  affair,  instead  of  injuring  the  rector's  fair  fame,  is  greatly 
to  his  credit.  He  performed  a  duty,  a  painful  duty  ;  and  for  that 
he  deserves,  not  excuses,  but  thanks. 

Bartholomew  Wesley,  after  being  ejected  from  his  church  at 
Charmouth,  still  continued  to  reside  in  the  same  village,  and  ob- 
tained a  livelihood  by  the  practice  of  physic.  He  made  no  secret 
of  the  fact  that  it  was  his  intention  and  wish  to  capture  the  king  ; 
and  he  jokingly  told  a  gentleman  that  he  was  "  confident  that,  if 
ever  the  king  came  back,  he  would  be  certain  to  love  long  prayers  ; 
for  if  he  (Wesley)  had  not  been  at  that  time  longer  than  ordinary 
at  his  devotion,  he  would  have  surely  snapt  him."  *  His  were 
days  of  strife,  of  change,  of  oppression,  and  of  sorrow.  He  lived 
to  a  good  old  age,  for  he  survived  his  son  John,  whose  death,  in 
1678,  greatly  affected  him.  He  preached  when  he  could,  and  ad- 
ministered physic  as  far  as  he  was  able.  A  local  historian  writes 
concerning  the  persecuted  dissenting  Christians  in  the  west  : 
"  They  were  rewarded  with  cruel  mockings,  bonds,  and  imprison- 
ments ;  they  wandered  in  deserts  and  in  mountains  ;  and  in  dens 
and  caverns  they  hid  themselves.  In  the  solitudes  of  Pinney 
they  offered  up  their  prayers,  in  a  dell  between  two  high  rocks, 
which  have  ever  since  been  called  the  WhitecJiapel  Rocks  ;  and  in 
an  old  house  at  Lyme  there  was  recently  discovered  an  ingeni- 
ously concealed  oak  staircase,  capable  of  admitting  only  one  person 
at  a  time,  which  led  to  a  small  apartment  that  had  been  used  as  a 
chapel."  In  such  places,  Bartholomew  Wesley  joined  his  fellow- 
Christians  in  the  worship  which  they  stealthily  presented  to  Al- 
mighty God.  He  and  they  have  long  since  passed  to  the  place 
where  "  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at 
rest." 

Samuel  Wesley's  father  was  John,  the  son  of  the  ejected  rector 
of  Catherston  and  Charmouth,  and  was  born  about  the  year  1636. 
Even  when  a  boy  at  school,  he  had  deep  religious  convictions  and 
feelings,  and  began  to  keep  a  diary  of  God's  gracious  dealings  with 
him,  which,  with  slight  interruptions,  was  continued  to  the  end  of 
*  Gent.  Mag.,  178.'),  p.  487. 


PAEENTAGE.  33 

life.  That  diary  is  now  unfortunately  lost,  or  at  all  events,  if  it 
still  exists,  no  one  seems  to  know  where  it  is. 

At  the  usual  age  he  was  entered  a  student  of  New  Inn  Hall,  Ox- 
ford, and,  in  due  course  of  time,  became  M.A.  At  the  period  when 
John  Wesley  matriculated,  Dr  John  Owen,  who  was  Cromwell's 
chaplam,  filled  the  office  of  vice-chancellor,  and  treated  the  young 
student  with  marked  attention.  Wesley  was  serious  and  diligent, 
and  applied  himself  particularly  to  the  study  of  the  Oriental  lan- 
guages, in  which  he  made  great  proficiency. 

Owen  was  elected  vice-chancellor  in  1G52,  when  John  Wesley  was 
about  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  continued  in  that  high  office  until 
1G57,  which  was  a  few  months  before  Wesley's  entrance  upon  the 
ministry  ;  so  that  it  is  not  improbable  that  Wesley  was  at  Oxford 
during  the  whole  of  the  administration  of  this  distinguished  man. 
Owen  found  this  ancient  seat  of  learning  in  an  exceedingly  dis- 
ordered state.  After  withstanding  a  long  siege,  it  had  recently  been 
obliged  to  surrender  to  the  parliament  forces,  and  was  now  left  so 
desolate,  that  men  said,  in  their  excitement,  it  looked  like  Jerusalem 
in  ruins.  Broken  trees  and  trampled  gardens  were  seen  on  every 
hand.  Sculptured  stones  and  pictured  windows  lay  shattered  in 
the  grass.  Nettles  and  brambles  were  growing  round  the  walls 
of  colleges.  The  rich  wood-work  in  the  quadrangle  of  Christ 
Church  had  been  used  for  fuel.  The  halls  had  been  turned  into 
granaries,  and  the  colleges  into  barracks.  So  long  had  Mars 
usurped  the  place  of  Minerva,  and  students  been  accustomed  to 
exchange  cap  for  helmet,  that  the  scholastic  air  had  almost 
vanished,  "  There  was  little  or  no  education  of  youth.  Poverty, 
desolation,  and  plunder, — the  sad  efiects  of  war, — were  to  be  seen 
in  every  corner."  To  correct  these  evils,  to  curb  the  licentiousness 
of  the  students,  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  university,  and  to 
support  its  character  for  piety  and  learning,  Owen  set  himself 
most  vigorously,  and  he  happily  succeeded.  Anthony  Wood  de- 
scribes him  as  putting  down  "  formalities  and  all  ceremony,  and  as 
undervaluing  his  office  by  going  in  quirpo,  like  a  young  scholar, 
with  powdered  hair,  snake-bone  band  strings,  a  large  set  of  rib- 
bons pointed  at  his  knees,  and  Spanish  leather  boots,  with  large 
lawn  tops,  and  his  hat  mostly  cocked,"  Be  this  as  it  might, 
among  the  students  Owen  acted  as  a  father.  While  he  discoun- 
tenanced and  punished  the  vicious,  he  encouraged  and  rewarded 
the  modest  and  the  indigent ;  and,  under  his  administration,  the 

c 


34  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

whole  body  was  reduced  to  good  order,  and  contained  a  great 
number  of  excellent  scholars,  and  persons  of  distinguished  piety. 

At  this  period,  Dr  Thomas  Goodwin,  distinguished  for  his 
piety,  learning,  and  industry,  was  president  of  Magdalen  College  ; 
George  Porter,  a  man  of  great  gravity,  integrity,  self-denial,  and 
charity,  was  Proctor  of  the  University  ;  Stephen  Charnock  was 
Senior  Proctor  of  New  College  ;  Ealph  Button,  whom  Baxter 
describes  as  "a  most  humble,  worthy,  godly  man,"  was  Canon 
of  Christ  Church  ;  Thomas  Cole,  the  tutor  of  John  Locke,  was 
Principal  of  St  Mary's  Hall ;  John  Howe  was  Fellow  of  Mag- 
dalen College ;  Dr  Edmund  Staunton,  who  was  a  living  con- 
cordance to  the  Bible,  was  President  of  Corpus  Christi  College  ; 
Dr  Wilkins,  who  married  Cromwell's  sister,  and  was  after- 
wards Bishop  of  Chester,  was  Warden  of  Wadham  College  ;  Dr 
Pococke,  the  greatest  Oriental  scholar  of  his  time,  was  Profes- 
sor of  Arabic.  Such  were  some  of  the  celebrated  men  who  flour- 
ished at  Oxford  at  the  time  when  John  Wesley  was  a  student 
there.  And  among  others  who,  during  the  same  period,  received 
a  part  or  the  whole  of  their  academical  education  in  the  same 
university,  may  be  mentioned  : — William  Penn,  the  celebrated 
Quaker  ;  Philip  Henry,  the  eminent  Nonconformist ;  Dr  South, 
so  famed  for  his  pungent  sermons  ;  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  the 
illustrious  architect  ;  Dr  Whitby,  the  learned  commentator ; 
Launcelot  Addison,  father  to  Joseph  Addison,  the  essayist ; 
Bishops  Spratt  and  Compton,  who  afterwards  ordained  John 
Wesley's  son  Samuel ;  Bishops  Crewe,  Cartwright,  Hopkins,  Ken, 
Fowler,  Wiseman,  Hooper,  Marsh,  Huntingdon,  Cumberland,  Tur- 
ner, and  Lloyd  ;  Joseph  Alleine,  subsequently  John  Wesley's  com- 
panion in  tribulation ;  and  Charles  Morton,  in  whose  academy  Samuel 
Wesley  was  afterwards  a  student.  Such  were  the  distinguished  con- 
temporaries of  Samuel  Wesley's  father  in  Oxford  University. 

John  Wesley  first  began  to  preach,  among  seamen,  at  Eadipole,  a 
village  about  two  miles  distant  from  Weymouth.  In  the  mean- 
time the  vicar  of  Winterborn-Whitchurch  died,  and  the  people  of 
that  parish  wished  Wesley  to  preach  to  them  as  a  minister  on  pro- 
bation. He  went ;  his  ministry  and  life  gave  satisfaction  to  those 
who  invited  him  ;  he  passed  his  examination  before  Cromwell's 
"  Triers ;"  and,  by  the  trustees,  was  appointed  to  the  living. 
This  was  in  May  1658,  when  he  was  about  twenty-two  years  of 
acre. 


PARENTAGE.  85 

Winterborn-Whitcliurch  is  a  village  about  five  miles  from 
Blandford,  in  Dorsetshire,  and  in  1851  had  a  population  of  595. 
The  income  of  the  living,  when  it  was  presented  to  John  Wesley, 
was  about  £30  a  year.  He  was  promised  an  augmentation  of 
£100  a  year ;  but,  on  account  of  the  many  changes  in  public 
affairs  which  soon  afterwards  took  place,  the  promise  failed  in  its 
fulfilment. 

Oliver  Cromwell  died  four  months  after  John  Wesley  was  in- 
ducted into  this  church  benefice,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  nation 
became  more  distracted  than  ever.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  efficient 
civil  government,  and  the  ruling  power  fell  wholly  into  the  hands 
of  the  army.  In  1659,  what  was  called  "The  Committee  of 
Safety"  was  appointed,  consisting  of  twenty-three  persons,  who 
were  ordered  "  to  endeavour  some  settlement  of  affairs,  by  pre- 
paring such  a  form  of  government  as  might  best  comport  with  a 
free  state  and  commonwealth."  The  Committee  agreed  upon  seven 
articles : — 1.  That  there  should  be  no  kingship.  2.  That  there 
should  be  no  single  person  as  chief  magistrate.  3.  That  the  army 
should  be  continued.  4.  That  there  should  be  no  imposition 
upon  conscience.  5.  No  House  of  Peers.  6.  That  the  legislative 
and  executive  powers  should  be  in  distinct  hands.  7.  That  par- 
liament should  be  elected  by  the  people.  Inextricable  confusion 
followed.  Plotter  plotted  against  plotter,  and  the  cleverest  man 
was  he  who  could  best  act  the  hypocrite.  General  Monk  and  his 
army  wished  for  the  restoration  of  Charles  ;  but  parliament  and 
the  Committee  of  Safety  seemed  to  be  opposed  to  this  ;  and  there 
was  serious  danger  of  a  recurrence  of  civil  wars.  John  Wesley 
was  a  young  man,  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  for  a  time  ap- 
pears to  have  sympathised  with  the  party  represented  by  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  and  to  have  taken  up  the  sword  on  their 
behalf;  but  when  Charles  was  restored  to  the  throne  of  his 
fathers,  in  1666,  the  young  soldier  quietly  submitted,  and  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance  and  loyalty. 

Some  of  these  facts  are  referred  to  in  the  following  conversa- 
tion, taken  from  Calamy's  "  Nonconformists'  Memorial."  It  may 
be  added,  that  Dr  Gilbert  Ironside  had  been  rector  of  Steepleton 
and  Abbas  Winterborn,  parishes  in  Dorset,  not  far  from  where 
the  Wesleys  lived.  He  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Bristol  about 
the  time  of  Charles's  restoration,  and  was  informed  that  John 
Wesley  would  not  read  the  Liturgy.     The  bishop  expressed  a  de- 


36  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

sire  to  see  him.     Wesley  waited  upon  his  lordship  ;  and  the  fol- 
lowing catechetical  interview  took  place  :— 

Bishojy.  What  is  your  name  ? 

Wesley.  John  Wesley. 

Bishop.  There  are  many  great  matters  charged  upon  you. 

Wesley.  Mr  Horloch  acquainted  me  that  it  was  your  lordship's 
desire  that  I  should  come  to  you ;  and,  on  that  account,  I  am 
here  to  wait  upon  you. 

Bishop.  By  whom  were  you  ordained  ?  or  are  you  ordained  ? 

Wesley.  I  am  sent  to  preach  the  gospel. 

Bishop.  By  whom  were  you  sent  ? 

Wesley.  By  a  church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Bishop.  What  church  is  that  ? 

Wesley.  The  church  of  Christ  at  Melcombe. 

Bishop.  That  factious  and  heretical  church  ! 

Wesley.  May  it  please  you,  sir,  I  know  no  faction  or  heresy  that 
that  church  is  guilty  of. 

Bishop.  No  !  Did  not  you  preach  such  things  as  tend  to  faction 
and  heresy  ? 

Wesley.  I  am  not  conscious  to  myself  of  any  such  preaching. 

Bishop.  I  am  informed  by  Sir  Gerrard  Napper,  Mr  Freak,  and 
Mr  Tregonnel  of  your  doings.     What  say  you  ? 

Wesley.  I  have  been  with  those  honoured  gentlemen,  who,  being 
misinformed,  proceeded  with  some  heat  against  me. 

Bishop).  There  are  the  oaths  of  several  honest  men,  who  have 
observed  you. 

Wesley.  There  was  no  oath  given  or  taken.  Besides,  if  it  be 
enough  to  accuse,  who  shall  be  innocent  ?  I  can  appeal  to  the 
determination  of  the  great  day  of  judgment,  that  the  large  cata- 
logue of  matters  laid  against  me  are  either  things  invented  or 
mistaken. 

Bishop.  Did  not  you  ride  with  your  sword  in  the  time  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  and  engage  with  them  ? 

Wesley.  Whatever  imprudences  in  civil  matters  you  may  be  in- 
formed I  am  guilty  of,  I  shall  crave  leave  to  acquaint  your  lordship, 
that  his  Majesty  having  pardoned  them  fully,  and  I  having  suf- 
fered on  account  of  them  since  the  pardon,  I  shall  put  in  no  other 
plea,  and  waive  any  other  answer. 

Bishop.  In  what  manner  did  the  church  you  speak  of  send  you 
to  preach  ?     At  this  rate  everybody  might  preach. 


PARENTAGE.  37 

Wesle2/.  Not  every  one.  Everybody  has  not  preaching  gifts 
and  preaching  graces.  Besides,  that  is  not  all  I  have  to  otfer  to 
your  lordshijD  to  justify  my  preaching. 

Bishop.  If  you  preach,  it  must  be  according  to  order ;  the  order 
of  the  Church  of  England,  upon  an  ordination. 

Wesley.   What  does  your  lordship  mean  by  an  ordination  ? 

Bishop.  Do  not  you  know  what  I  mean  ? 

Wesley.  If  you  mean  that  spoken  of  Eoni.  x.,  I  had  it. 

Bishop.  1  mean  that.     What  mission  had  you  ? 

Wesley.  I  had  a  mission  from  God  and  man. 

Bishop.  You  must  have  it  according  to  law,  and  the  order  of 
the  Church  of  England. 

Wesley.  I  am  not  satisfied  in  my  spirit  therein. 

Bishop.  Not  satisfied  in  your  spirit!  You  have  more  new- 
coined  phrases  than  ever  were  heard  of !  You  mean  your  con- 
science, do  you  not  ? 

Wesley.  Spirit  is  no  new  phrase.  We  read  of  being  "  sanctified 
in  body,  soul,  and  spii^it;"  but,  if  your  lordship  like  it  not  so, 
then  I  say,  I  am  not  satisfied  in  my  conscience,  touching  the  ordi- 
nation you  speak  of. 

Bishop.  Conscience  argues  science,  science  supposes  judgment, 
and  judgment  reason.  What  reason  have  you  that  you  will  not  be 
thus  ordained? 

Wesley.  I  came  not  this  day  to  dispute  with  your  lordship ;  my 
own  ability  would  forbid  me  to  do  so. 

Bishop.  No,  no ;  but  give  me  your  reason. 

Wesley.  I  am  not  called  to  office,  and  therefore  cannot  be 
ordained. 

Bishop.  Why,  then,  have  you  preached  all  this  while  ? 

Wesley.  I  was  called  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  though  not  to 
the  office.     There  is,  as  we  believe,  vocatio  ad  opus,  et  ad  munus. 

Bishop.  Why  may  you  not  have  the  office  of  the  ministry? 
You  have  so  many  new  distinctions  !  oh,  how  you  are  deluded  ! 

Wesley.  May  it  please  your  lordship,  because  they  are  not  a 
people  that  are  fit  objects  for  me  to  exercise  office-work  among 
them. 

Bishop.  You  mean  a  gathered  church :  but  we  must  have  no 
gathered  churches  in  England  ;  and  you  will  see  it  so.  Eor  there 
must  be  unity  without  divisions  among  us ;  and  there  can  be  no 
unity  without  uniformity.     Well,  then,  we  must  send  you  to  your 


88  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

church,  that  they  may  dispose  of  you,  if  you  were  ordained  by 
them. 

Wesley.  I  have  been  informed  by  my  cousin  Pitfield  and  others, 
concerning  your  lordship,  that  you  have  a  disposition  opposed 
to  morosity.  However  you  may  be  prepossessed  by  some  bitter 
enemies  to  my  person,  yet,  there  are  others,  who  can  and  will  give 
you  another  character  of  me.  Mr  Glisson  hath  done  it ;  and  Sir 
Erancis  Fulford  desired  me  to  present  his  service  to  you,  and, 
being  my  hearer,  is  ready  to  acquaint  you  concerning  me. 

Bishop.  I  asked  Sir  Prancis  Fulford  whether  the  presentation 
to  Whitchnrch  was  his.  Whose  is  it?  He  told  me  it  was  not 
his. 

Wesley.  There  was  none  presented  to  it  these  sixty  years.  Mr 
Walton  lived  there.  At  his  departure,  the  people  desired  me  to 
preach  to  them ;  and,  when  there  was  a  way  of  settlement  ap- 
pointed, I  was  by  the  trustees  appointed,  and  by  the  Triers 
approved. 

Bishop.  They  would  approve  any  that  would  come  to  them,  and 
close  with  them.  I  know  they  approved  those  who  could  not  read 
twelve  lines  of  English. 

Wesley.  All  that  they  did  I  know  not ;  but  I  was  examined 
touching  gifts  and  graces. 

Bishop.  I  question  not  your  gifts,  Mr  Wesley.  I  will  do  you 
any  good  I  can ;  but  you  will  not  long  be  suffered  to  preach,  un- 
less you  do  it  according  to  order. 

Wesley.  I  shall  submit  to  any  trial  you  shall  please  to  make.  I 
shall  present  your  lordship  with  a  confession  of  my  faith,  or  take 
what  other  way  you  please  to  insist  on. 

Bishop.  No  ;  we  are  not  come  to  that  yet. 

Wesley.  I  shall  desire  several  things  may  be  laid  together,  which 
I  look  on  as  justifying  my  preaching  : — 1.  I  was  devoted  to  the 
service  from  my  infancy.  2.  I  was  educated  thereto,  at  school  and 
in  the  university. 

Bishop.  What  university  were  you  of  ? 

Wesley.  Oxon, 

Bishop.  What  house  ? 

Wesley.  New  Inn  Hall. 

Bishop.  What  age  are  you  ? 

Wesley.  Twenty-five. 

Bishop.  No  sure,  you  are  not ! 


PARENTAGE.  39 

* 

Wesley.  3.  As  a  son  of  the  prophets,  after  I  had  taken  my 
degrees,  I  preached  in  the  country,  being  approved  of  by  judicious, 
able  Christians,  ministers,  and  others.  4.  It  pleased  God  to  seal 
my  labour  with  success,  in  the  apparent  conversion  of  several  souls. 

Bishop.  Yea,  that  is,  it  may  be,  to  your  own  way. 

Wesley:  Yea,  to  the  power  of  godliness,  from  ignorance  and  pro- 
faneness.  If  it  please  your  lordship,  to  lay  down  any  evidences  of 
godliness  agreeing  with  the  Scriptures,  and  if  they  be  not  found  in 
those  persons  intended,  I  am  content  to  be  discharged  from  my 
ministry ;  I  will  stand  or  fall  by  the  issue  thereof. 

Bishop.  You  talk  of  the  power  of  godliness  such  as  you  fancy. 

Wesley.  Yea,  the  reality  of  religion.  Let  us  appeal  to  any 
commonplace  book  for  evidences  of  grace,  and  they  are  found  in 
and  upon  these  converts. 

Bishop.  How  many  are  there  of  them  ? 

Wesley.  I  number  not  the  people. 

Bishop.  Where  are  they  ? 

Wesley.  Wherever  I  have  been  called  to  preach — at  Eadipole, 
Melcombe,  Turnworth,  Whitchurch,  and  at  sea.  I  shall  add  another 
ingredient  of  my  mission.  5.  When  the  church  saw  the  presence 
of  God  going  along  with  me,  they  did,  by  fasting  and  prayer,  in 
a  day  set  apart  for  that  end,  seek  an  abundant  blessing  on  my 
endeavours. 

Bishop.  A  particular  church  ? 

Wesley.  Yes,  my  lord.  I  am  not  ashamed  to  own  myself  a  mem- 
ber of  one. 

Bishop.  Why,  you  mistake  the  apostles'  intent.  They  went  about 
to  convert  heathens,  and  so  did  what  they  did.  You  have  no  war- 
rant for  your  particular  churches. 

Wesley.  We  have  a  plain,  full,  and  sufficient  rule  for  gospel 
worship  in  the  New  Testament,  recorded  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
and  in  the  Epistles, 

Bishop.  We  have  not. 

Wesley.  The  practice  of  the  apostles  is  a  standing  rule  in  those 
cases  which  were  not  extraordinary. 

Bishop.  Not  their  practice,  but  their  precepts. 

Wesley.  Both  precepts  and  practice.  Our  duty  is  not  delivered 
to  us  in  Scripture  only  by  precepts,  but  by  precedents,  by  promises, 
and  by  threatenings  mixed.  We  are  to  follow  them  as  they  fol- 
lowed Christ. 


40  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

Bishop.  But  the  apostle  said,  "  This  speak  I ;  not  the  Lord" — 
that  is,  by  revelation. 

Wesley.  Some  interpret  that  place,  "This  speak  I  now,  by 
revelation  from  the  Lord" — not  the  Lord  in  that  text  before 
instanced,  when  he  gave  answer  concerning  divorce.  May  it 
please  your  lordship,  we  believe  that  "  cultus  non  institutus  est 
indebitus." 

Bishop.  It  is  false. 

Wesley.  The  second  commandment  speaks  the  same :  "  Thou 
shalt  not  make  unto  thyself  any  graven  image." 

Bishop.  That  is,  forms  of  your  own  invention. 

Wesley.  Bishop  Andrews,  taking  notice  of  "non  facies  tibi," 
satisfied  me  that  we  may  not  worship  God  but  as  commanded. 

Bishop.  You  take  discipline,  church  government,  and  circum- 
stances for  worship. 

Wesley.  You  account  ceremonies  a  part  of  worship. 

Bishop.  But  what  say  you  ?  Did  you  not  wear  a  sword  in  the 
time  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  with  Demy  and  the  rest  of 
them? 

Wesley.  My  lord,  I  have  given  you  my  answer  therein ;  and  I 
further  say,  that  I  have  conscientiously  taken  the  oath  of  allegi- 
ance, and  faithfully  kept  it  hitherto.  I  appeal  to  all  that  are 
around  me. 

Bishop.  But  nobody  will  trust  you.  You  stood  it  out  to  the 
last  gasp. 

Wesley.  I  know  not  what  you  mean  by  the  last  gasp.  When 
I  saw  the  pleasure  of  Providence  to  turn  the  order  of  things,  I 
did  submit  quietly  thereto. 

Bishop.  That  was  at  last. 

Wesley.  Yet  many  such  men  are  trusted,  and  now  about  the 
king. 

Bishop.  They  are  such  as,  though  on  the  parliament  side  during 
the  war,  yet  disown  those  latter  proceedings ;  but  you  abode  even 
till  Haselrig's  coming  to  Portsmouth. 

Wesley.  His  Majesty  has  pardoned  whatever  you  may  be  in- 
formed of  concerning  me  of  that  nature,  I  am  not  here  on  that 
account. 

Bishop.  I  expected  you  not. 

Wesley.  Your  lordship  sent  your  desire  by  two  or  three  mes- 
sengers.    Had  I  been  refractory,  I  need  not  have  come ;  but  I 


PARENTAGE.  41 

would  give  no  just  cause  of  offence.  I  think  the  old  Nonconfor- 
mists were  none  of  his  Majesty's  enemies. 

Bishop.  They  were  traitors.  They  began  the  war.  Knox  and 
Buchanan  in  Scotland,  and  those  like  them  in  England. 

Wesley.  I  have  read  the  protestation  of  owning  the  king's 
supremacy. 

Bishop.  They  did  it  in  hypocrisy. 

Wesley.  You  used  to  tax  the  poor  Independents  for  judging 
folks'  hearts.     Who  doth  it  now  ? 

Bishop.  I  did  not ;  for  they  pretended  one  thing  and  acted 
another.     Do  not  I  know  them  better  than  you  ? 

Wesley.  I  know  them  by  their  works,  as  they  have  therein  de- 
livered us  their  hearts. 

Bishop.  Well,  then,  you  will  justify  your  preaching,  will  you, 
without  ordination  according  to  the  law  ? 

Wesley.  All  these  things  laid  together  are  satisfactory  to  me, 
for  my  procedure  therein. 

Bishop.  They  are  not  enough. 

Wesley.  There  has  been  more  written  in  proof  of  preaching  of 
gifted  persons,  with  such  approbation,  than  has  been  answered  by 
any  one  yet. 

Bishop.  Have  you  anything  more  to  say  to  me,  Mr  Wesley  ? 

Wesley.  Nothing.     Your  lordship  sent  for  me. 

Bishop.  I  am  glad  I  heard  this  from  your  own  mouth.  You 
will  stand  to  your  principles,  you  say  ? 

Wesley.  I  intend  it,  through  the  grace  of  God  ;  and  to  be  faith- 
ful to  the  king's  majesty,  however  you  deal  with  me. 

Bishop.  I  will  not  meddle  with  you. 

Wesley.  Farewell  to  you,  sir. 

Bishop.  Farewell,  good  Mr  Wesley. 

This  is  a  long  conversation,  but  it  is  instructive  and  useful,  (1.) 
as  casting  light  upon  Church  and  State  affairs,  immediately  after 
the  restoration  of  Charles ;  and  (2.)  as  furnishing  several  interest- 
ing facts  in  the  history  of  Samuel  Wesley's  father.  Passing  over 
the  first,  we  learn  that  John  Wesley,  like  his  grandson  of  the  same 
name,  was  a  man  of  sound  sense  and  pluck.  He  adhered  to  the 
parliament  and  to  the  Commonwealth  to  the  last  moment ;  but 
when  he  saw  that  the  Commonwealth  was  doomed,  and  that  the 
nation  was  resolved  to  restore  the  Monarchy,  like  a  man  of  sense, 
he  laid  aside  his  sword  and  quietly  submitted.     His  continued 


42  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

firm  adherence  to  the  cause  of  the  Commonwealth — "  to  the  last 
gasp,"  as  the  bishop  put  it — brought  him  into  trouble  after  the 
king's  return  ;  but  royal  clemency  was  properly  exercised  towards 
him,  and  there  was  an  end  of  the  affair.  He  had  preferred  another 
kind  of  government ;  but  now  that  Charles,  by  the  voice  of  the 
nation,  was  seated  upon  the  throne,  Wesley  took  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance, and  faithfully  kept  it. 

It  is  further  evident,  from  the  foregoing  conversation,  that  John 
Wesley  was  never  episcopally  ordained.  From  his  infancy,  he  was 
devoted,  by  his  God-fearing  father,  to  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
and  was  educated  in  reference  thereto,  both  at  school  and  at  col- 
lege. After  leaving  the  university,  he  became  a  private  member 
of  the  church  at  Melcombe.  Authorised  by  the  voice  of  that 
church,  he  began  to  preach  at  Melcombe,  Kadij^ole,  Turnworth, 
Whitchurch,  and  other  places.  By  the  bishop's  own  admission, 
lie  was  a  man  of  "gifts."  His  preaching  was  the  means  of  con- 
verting sinners  in  every  place  in  which  it  was  exercised.  Just  at 
this  juncture,  Mr  Walton,  who  had  been  vicar  of  the  parish  of 
Winterborn- Whitchurch  for  fifty-six  years,  died.  Several  able 
ministers,  and  judicious  Christians,  thought  young  Wesley  to  be  a 
suitable  successor.  The  trustees,  in  whom  the  presentation  was 
vested,  offered  him  the  living.  Cromwell's  Triers,  after  having 
examined  him  as  to  his  fitness  for  the  ministerial  work,  gave  him 
their  certificate  of  approval.  And  then,  as  the  last  step  previous 
to  his  induction — instead  of  ordination  by  bishops  or  by  presby- 
ters— the  church  of  which  he  was  a  private  member  set  ^part  a 
day  for  fasting  and  prayer,  to  seek  an  abundant  blessing  on  his 
labours.  Thus  qualified,  called,  and  commissioned,  the  young 
evangelist,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  entered  upon  his  ministerial 
charge ;  and,  laying  aside  the  Liturgy,  which  had  probably  been 
used  by  the  previous  vicar  during  his  long  ministry  of  fifty-six 
years,  he  introduced  the  Presbyterian,  or  the  Independent,  form  of 
worship,  and  thereby  involved  himself  in  trouble.  Some  of  the 
parishioners — as  Sir  Gerrard  Napper,  Mr  Freak,  and  Mr  Trego  n- 
nel — disliked  the  change ;  and,  as  soon  as  a  bishop  was  appointed 
after  the  Eestoration,  they  lodged  a  complaint  against  their  young 
minister.  It  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  the  bishop  at  that  time 
— 1661 — ^had  authority  to  interfere  in  a  case  like  Wesley's ;  but  he 
wished  to  see  him ;  and,  accordingly,  knowing  that  there  was  no 
violation  of  law  in  his  abandonment  of  the  Liturgy  during  the  last 


PARENTAGE.  43 

three  years,  Wesley,  with  a  fearless  heart  and  unflinching  face, 
sought  the  bishop's  presence,  and  held  the  characteristic  conversa- 
tion already  given. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  determine  what  "Wesley  means  by 
his  "  gathered  church,"  and  by  its  members  not  being  fit  for  him 
"  to  exercise  office-work  among  them."  The  probability  is,  that  at 
the  death  of  old  Mr  Walton  there  were  no  really  converted  per- 
sons in  the  parish,  and,  therefore,  none  whom  Wesley  deemed  to 
be  fit  and  proper  persons  to  receive  the  sacrament.  His  en- 
deavour, for  the  past  three  years,  had  been  to  get  the  people  con- 
verted, and,  to  some  extent,  he  had  succeeded ;  but  still,  he  even 
yet  scarce  considered  his  new  converts,  the  members  of  his  gathered 
church,  sufficiently  instructed  and  established  to  justify  him  in  his 
exercising  "  office- work "  among  them ;  or,  in  other  words,  to 
justify  him  in  administrating  to  them  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  If  this  is  not  the  meaning  of  this  technical  and  obscure 
verbiage,  the  reader,  so  far  as  the  writer  is  concerned,  must  be 
content  to  remain  in  ignorance. 

Wesley's  conversation  with  Bishop  Ironside  occurred  sometime 
during  the  year  1661.  About  the  same  period  he  was  arrested, 
on  the  Lord's-day,  as  he  was  coming  out  of  church,  and  was 
carried  to  Blandford,  where  he  was  committed  to  prison.  The 
reason  of  this  arrest  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  which  brought 
him  before  the  Bishop  of  Bristol.  He  would  not  use  the  Liturgy. 
His  enemies  had  accused  him  to  the  bishop,  but  without  effect,  for 
the  bisnop  as  yet  was  really  without  jurisdiction.  King  Charles 
had  appointed  bishops  to  several  dioceses,  and  the  Liturgy  had  been 
introduced  into  those  churches,  where  the  ministers  were  avowedly 
Episcopalians  ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  month  of  November  1661, 
that  the  prayer-book  was  revised  by  Convocation  ;  and  it  was  not 
until  August  1662,  that  the  use  of  it  was  made  binding.  It  is 
true  that,  during  the  summer  of  1660,  a  bill  had  been  passed  by 
parliament  giving  power  to  expel  from  church  livings  every  in- 
cumbent that  had  not  been  ordained  by  an  ecclesiastic ;  and  by 
this  act,  John  Wesley  might  have  been  expelled  from  the  living 
of  Winterborn,  Whitchurch.  But  this  was  not  the  ground  taken  by 
Sir  Gerrard  Napper  and  the  other  parishioners  who  were  inimical 
to  his  person  and  ministry.  Probably  they  were  not  aware,  or 
were  not  in  a  position  to  prove,  that  he  had  not  received  ordination  ; 
and  hence  their  illegal  plot  to  imprison  and  expel  him,  because,  in 


44<  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

conducting  divine  service  in  his  church,  he  persisted  in  his  refusal 
to  use  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

It  was  within  two  years  after  the  restoration  of  Charles  II. 
that  Wesley  was  arrested  and  committed  to  Blandford  gaol  on 
such  a  charge.  Sir  Gerrard  Napper  had  been  his  most  furious 
enemy,  and  the  most  forward  in  committing  him  ;  but  after  Wesley 
had  lain  in  prison  for  a  length  of  time,  Sir  Gerrard  broke  his 
collar  bone,  and,  perhaps  thinking  that  the  disaster  had  happened 
as  a  judgment  upon  him  for  his  cruelty  to  the  young  minister,  he 
requested  some  of  his  friends  to  bail  him,  and  told  them,  that 
if  they  refused,  he  would  give  bail  himself.  At  length,  by  an 
order  of  the  Privy  Council,  dated  July  24,  1661,  it  was  directed 
that  he  should  be  discharged  from  his  then  imprisonment,  upon 
taking  the  oaths  of  supremacy  and  allegiance.  He  was  taken 
accordingly  before  a  magistrate,  who,  for  some  reason,  declined 
administering  the  oaths,  but  issued  a  warrant,  dated  July  29, 
1661,  commanding  him  to  appear  before  the  judges  of  the  assizes, 
to  be  holden  at  Dorchester,  the  1st  of  August  following. 

He  has  recorded  in  his  diary  the  goodness  of  God  in  inclining 
a  solicitor  to  plead  for  him,  and  in  restraining  the  wrath  of  man, 
so  that  even  the  judge,  though  a  man  of  sharp  temper,  spoke  not 
an  angry  word.  The  sum  of  the  proceedings,  as  given  in  his  diary, 
is  as  follows  : — 

Clerk.  Call  Mr  Wesley  of  Whitchurch. 

Wesley.  Here. 

Clerk.  You  were  indicted  for  not  reading  the  common  prayer. 
Will  you  traverse  it  ? 

Solicitor.  May  it  please  your  lordship,  we  desire  this  business 
may  be  deferred  till  next  assizes. 

Judge.  Why  till  then  ? 

Solicitor.  Our  witnesses  are  not  ready  at  present. 

Judge.  Why  not  ready  now  ?  Why  have  you  not  prepared  for 
a  trial  ?  * 

Solicitor.  We  thought  our  prosecutors  would  not  appear. 

Judge.  Why  so,  young  man?  Why  should  you  think  so? 
Why  did  you  not  provide  them  ? 


*  It  will  be  seen,  from  the  above  dates,  that  two  days  only  elapsed  between  the 
issuing  of  the  warrant  against  John  Wesley  and  the  commencement  of  the  assizes. 
No  wonder  that  he  was  not  prepared  for  trial. 


PAEENTAGE.  45 

Wesley.  May  it  please  your  lordship,  I  understand  not  the 
question. 

Judge.  Why  will  you  not  read  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  ? 

Wesley.  The  book  was  never  tendered  to  me. 

Judge.  Must  the  book  be  tendered  to  you  ? 

Wesley.  So  I  conceive  by  the  act. 

Judge.  Are  you  ordained  ? 

Wesley.  I  am  ordained  to  preach  the  gospel. 

Judge.  From  whom  ? 

Wesley.  I  have  given  an  account  thereof  already  to  the  bishop. 

Judge.  What  bislioj)  ? 

Wesley.  The  Bishop  of  Bristol. 

Judge.  I  say,  by  whom  were  you  ordained  ?  How  long  is  it 
since  ? 

Wesley.  Four  or  five  years  since. 

Judge.  By  whom  then  ? 

Wesley.  By  those  who  were  then  empowered. 

Judge.  I  thought  so.     Have  you  a  presentation  to  your  place  ? 

Wesley.  I  have. 

Judge.  From  whom  ? 

Wesley.  May  it  please  your  lordship,  it  is  a  legal  presentation. 

Judge.  By  whom  was  it  ? 

Wesley.  By  the  trustees. 

Judge.  Have  you  brought  it  ? 

Wesley.  I  have  not. 

Judge.  Why  not? 

Wesley.  Because,  I  did  not  think  I  should  be  asked  any  such 
questions  here. 

Judge.  I  would  wish  you  to  read  the  common  prayer  at  your 
peril.  You  will  not  say,  "  From  all  sedition  and  privy  conspiracy ; 
from  all  false  doctrines,  heresy,  and  schism.  Good  Lord,  de- 
liver lis ! " 

Clerk.  Call  Mr  Meech. 

Meech.  Here. 

Clerk.  Does  Mr  Wesley  read  the  common  prayer  yet. 

Meech.  May  it  please  your  lordship,  he  never  did,  nor  he  never 
will. 

Judge.  Friend,  how  do  you  know  that?  He  may  bethink 
himself. 

Meech.  He  never  did ;  he  never  will. 


46  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

Solicitor.  We  will,  when  we  see  the  new  book,  either  read  it,  or 
leave  our  place  at  Bartholomew  tide. 

Judge.  Are  you  not  bound  to  read  the  old  book  till  then  ?  Let 
us  see  the  act. 

The  act  was  handed  to  the  judge,  and  while  he  was  reading  it, 
another  cause  was  called ;  and  John  Wesley  was  bound  over  to 
the  next  assizes.  He  came  joyfully  home,  and  preached  each 
Lord's-day,  till  August  17,  1662,  when  he  delivered  his  farewell 
sermon  to  a  weeping  audience,  from  Acts  xx.  82  ;  "  And  now, 
brethren,  I  commend  you  to  God,  and  the  word  of  his  grace." 

Such  is  the  account  given  by  Dr  A.  Clarke  ;  an  account  taken, 
in  substance,  from  Calamy.  Some  of  the  dates  are  perplexing  and 
doubtful.  Clarke  states  that  this  odd  sort  of  assize  trial  took 
place  in  August  1661;  and  yet  from  the  last  remark  of  the 
Solicitor, — "  When  we  see  the  new  book  we  will  either  read  it, 
or  leave  our  place  at  Bartholomew  tide,"  it  is  clear  that  the  "new 
book  "  was,  to  say  the  least,  already  sanctioned ;  and  that  the  Act 
of  Uniformity  was  already  passed,  fixing  Bartholomew  tide  as  the 
time  when  every  possessor  of  a  church  living  must  either  use  the 
"new  Book"  of  Common  Prayer,  or  be  ejected  from  his  church. 
Admit  this,  and  then  it  is  undeniable  that  Wesley  was  tried  at 
the  assizes,  not  in  1661,  but  in  1662;  inasmuch  as  the  "new 
book"  was  not  prepared  by  Convocation  before  November  1661; 
and  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  making  the  use  of  it  binding,  was  not 
passed  before  the  19tli  of  May  1662.*  John  Wesley  was  kept  in 
prison  up  to  within  a  month  of  the  mournful  24th  of  August, 
when  he  and  two  thousand  more  were  ruthlessly  ejected  from 
their  churches  and  their  homes.  At  the  very  utmost,  he  would 
not  have  the  opportunity  of  preaching  on  more  than  three  Sun- 
days in  his  church,  before  Sir  Gerrard  Napper  and  his  other 
enemies  had  their  wishes  gratified,  by  seeing  him  finally  expelled. 
There  are  some  other  difficulties  in  the  account  given  by  Calamy 
and  Clarke;  but,  in  a  life  like  this,  they  are  scarcely  worth 
noticing. 

Little  more  remains  to  be  said  concerning  Samuel  Wesley's 
father.  Where  he  spent  the  first  six  months  after  his  ejectment 
from  his  benefice,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  Probably,  how- 
ever, he  remained  in  the  same  village,  where  he  had  spent  the 
last  four  years,  inasmuch  as  it  was  here  that  his  son  Samuel  was 

Calamy  says  Wesley  was  arrested  in  the  beginning  of  1662. 


PAKENTAGE.  47 

born,  only  four  months  after  the  youthful  minister  and  his  wife 
were  cast  out  of  their  vicarage. 

On  February  22,  1663,  when  Samuel  Wesley  was  only  nine 
weeks  old,  his  father  and  his  mother  removed  to  Melcombe. 
Before  their  arrival,  their  old  enemy.  Sir  Gerrard  Napper,  and 
seven  other  magistrates,  by  some  stretch  of  authority,  had  turned 
out  of  office  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  borough,  and  had  put 
into  their  place  others  more  subservient  to  their  will.  Accord- 
ingly, when  young  Wesley  and  his  wife,  with  their  infant  child, 
reached  Melcombe,  they  found  that  the  new  corporation  had  made 
an  order  against  their  settlement  in  the  tow^n ;  and  that  if  they  per- 
sisted in  settling  there,  a  fine  of  £20  was  to  be  levied  upon  the 
owner  of  the  house  in  which  they  lived,  and  five  shillings  per 
week  upon  themselves.  Wesley  waited  upon  the  mayor  and  some 
others,  pleading  that  he  had  lived  in  Melcombe  previously ;  and 
offering  to  give  security  for  his  proper  behaviour  ;  but  all  was  of 
no  avail,  for,  a  few  days  afterwards,  another  order  was  drawn  up 
for  putting  the  former  one  into  execution. 

These  violent  proceedings  drove  John  Wesley  and  his  family 
from  the  town,  where,  a  few  years  before,  he  had  lived  beloved  by 
all  who  knew  him.  He  now  went  to  Ilminster,  Bridgew.^er,  and 
Taunton,  in  all  of  which  places,  the  Presbyterians,  Independents, 
and  Baptists,  treated  him  with  great  kindness,  and  where  he 
preached  almost  every  day. 

The  author  of  "  Joseph  Alleine :  his  Companions  and  Times," 
states  that,  from  the  11th  of  March  1663  to  the  beginning  of 
May  in  that  year,  John  Wesley  was  the  "enthusiastic  fellow- 
labourer  "  of  Joseph  Alleine.  Mr  Sandford  adds — "  He  "  (Wesley) 
"preached  almost  every  day,  dividing  his  time  between  Mr 
AUeine's  people  at  Taunton  and  Mr  Norman's  at  Bridgewater ; 
he  also  occasionally  ministered  to  congregations  of  Baptists  and 
Independents  at  both  places." 

Alleine  was  one  of  the  two  thousand  ministers  ejected  in  1662; 
but  he,  at  once,  began  to  preach  in  his  own  house,  and  in  surround- 
ing villages  and  towns,  and  generally  delivered  from  seven  to  four- 
teen sermons  every  week.  He  knew  that,  at  any  moment,  he 
might  be  dragged  to  prison,  and  this  made  him  all  the  more  dili- 
gent and  earnest  in  improving  the  time  he  had. 

Mr  Norman,  mentioned  above,  was  another  of  the  ejected 
ministers.    He  had  good  natural  abilities,  and  a  considerable  stock 


48  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

of  learning,  and  was  an  acceptable  preacher.  With  Alleine,  and 
many  others,  he  was  sent  to  prison  for  venturing  to  preach  the 
gospel  of  his  Lord  and  Master.  "  Sirrah,"  said  Judge  Foster, 
when  Norman  was  arraigned  before  him  in  1663,  "  Sirrah,  do  you 
preach  ?"  "  Yes,  my  lord,"  said  Norman.  "  And  why  so,  sirrah  ?" 
"  Because  I  was  ordained  to  preach."  "How  was  you  ordained?" 
"  In  the  same  way  as  Timothy."  "  And  how  was  that  ?"  "  By  the 
laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery."  Norman  was  sentenced 
to  pay  a  fine  of  £100,  and  to  lie  in  prison  till  the  fine  was  paid. 
As  he  was  being  taken  to  Ilchester  Gaol,  the  officers  called  at  the 
house  of  the  High  Sheriff.  "  Where  is  now  your  God  V  tauntingly 
asked  the  Sheriff's  wife.  "Have  you  a  Bible?"  asked  Norman. 
"  Yes,"  said  she.  "  Bring  it,"  said  Norman.  Being  brought  he 
read  Micah  vii.  8,  9, 10.  The  poor  woman  seemed  to  be  paralysed 
with  fear,  and  immediately  retired ;  and  the  dealings  of  God  with 
the  Sheriff's  family,  not  long  after,  caused  this  text  to  be  remem- 
bered. 

This  happened  in  the  very  month  that  John  Wesley  left  his 
friends  Alleine  and  Norman,  for  before  that  month  of  May  in  1663 
expired,  both  Norman  and  Alleine  were  confined  in  Ilchester  Gaol. 
When  Alleine  started  off  to  prison,  both  sides  of  the  streets  of 
Taunton  were  lined  with  his  weeping  friends,  and  many  followed 
him  several  miles  on  foot,  and  made  such  lamentations  after  him 
that  they  well-nigh  broke  his  heart.  Arriving  at  the  prison  gates, 
and  finding  the  gaoler  absent,  he  took  the  opportunity  of  preach- 
ing before  he  entered.  He  was  clapped  up  in  the  Bridewell 
chamber,  over  the  common  gaol,  where  he  found  his  friend  Norman, 
who  had  been  committed  a  few  days  before  him.  In  this  low, 
miserable  garret,  these  godly  companions  of  John  Wesley  spent  both 
day  and  night  for  many  months.  There  were  imprisoned  with  them, 
in  the  same  room,  fifty  Quakers,  seventeen  Baptists,  and  also  thirteen 
other  ministers,  all  arrested,  like  themselves,  for  the  high  crimes  of 
preaching  and  praying.  The  atmosphere  was  stifling.  The  summer 
sun  struck  fiercely  on  the  roof  all  day,  and  so  low  was  the  covering 
of  the  building,  that  at  night,  when  lying  on  their  mattresses,  the 
prisoners  could  touch  the  glowing  tiles.  Gasping  for  life,  they  had 
sometimes  to  break  the  windows,  or  to  remove  a  tile  for  the  pur- 
pose of  obtaining  air.  Night  and  day  they  were  compelled  to  listen 
to  the  songs,  the  curses,  and  the  clanking  chains  of  the  felons  in  the 
cells  below ;  and  if  they  ventured  out  of  their  deadly  vapour-bath 


PARENTAGE.  49 

into  the  prison  court,  tliey  were  met  by  the  sights  of  the  loath- 
some and  pestilential  wretchedness  of  the  criminals  that  crossed 
their  paths.* 

It  was  by  a  narrow  escape  that  John  Wesley  was  not  put  into 
the  same  prison  as  his  friends  Alleine  and  Norman. 

John  Wesley  having  spent  about  six  weeks  at  Bridgewater, 
Taunton,  and  Ilminster,  a  gentleman  who  had  a  house  at  Preston, 
near  Weymouth,  offered  to  allow  him  to  live  in  it  without  paying 
rent.  Thither,  therefore,  he  removed  his  young  wife  and  their 
infant  child  in  the  beginning  of  May  1663,  and  thus  avoided  im- 
prisonment with  his  friends  whom  he  left  behind.  Excepting  a 
temporary  absence,  shortly  to  be  noticed,  he  continued  to  reside 
at  Preston  until  his  death  in  1678. 

At  one  time  he  strongly  wished  to  go  as  a  missionary  to 
Surinam,  a  settlement  in  Guiana  ;  and  at  another  time,  to  Mary- 
land, in  America — but  in  neither  instance  was  his  wish  accom- 
plished. Probably  the  advice  of  his  friends,  and  the  expense  of 
such  a  journey,  presented  difficulties  which  he  found  impossible 
to  surmount. 

For  awhile  he  seems  to  have  been  obliged  to  give  up  preaching; 
and  as  there  was  no  public  worship  except  that  of  the  Church  of 
England,  in  which  the  Liturgy  was  used,  he  was  considerably 
troubled  at  being  debarred  from  joining  in  sanctuary  service;  but, 
by  reading  Mr  Philip  Nye's  "  Arguments  for  the  Lawfulness  of 
hearing  Ministers  of  the  Church  of  England,"  his  scruples  con- 
cerning the  Liturgy  were  so  far  removed  that  he  was  able,  with  a 
safe  conscience,  to  attend  the  church  service. 

At  length  he  began  to  preach  in  private  to  a  few  good  people 
in  Preston,  and  occasionally  at  Weymouth,  and  at  other  places  con- 
tiguous. After  some  time,  he  had  a  call  from  a  number  of  serious 
Christians  at  Poole  to  become  their  pastor.  He  consented,  and 
continued  in  that  capacity  while  he  lived,  administering  to  them 
all  the  ordinances  of  God  as  opportunity  offered.  In  consequence, 
however,  of  the  Oxford  Five  Mile  Act,  passed  in  1665,  he  was 
often  put  to  great  inconvenience.  Notwithstanding  all  his 
prudence  in  managing  his  meetings,  he  was  frequently  disturbed, 
several  times  apprehended,  and  four  times  imprisoned — once  at 
Dorchester  for  three  months,  and  once  at  Poole  for  half  a  year ; 
and  once,  at  least,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  his  wife,  his  family,  and  his 

*  Sandford's  Joseph  Alleine,  &c. 

D 


50  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  "WESLEY, 

flock,  and  for  a  considerable  time  to  hide  himself  in  a  place  of 
secrecy.  Again  and  again,  the  handful  of  godly  people  meeting  in 
the  house  of  Henry  Saunders,  mariner,  of  Melcombe,  were  arrested 
for  being  present  at  a  conventicle,  and  were  fined,  imprisoned,  or 
otherwise  punished.  Dr  Calamy  adds,  that  John  Wesley  "  was  in 
many  straits  and  difficulties,  but  was  wonderfully  supported  and 
comforted,  and  was  many  times  very  seasonably  and  surprisingly 
relieved  and  delivered.  Nevertheless,  the  removal  of  many  emi- 
nent Christians  into  another  world,  who  had  been  his  intimate 
acquaintance  and  kind  friends,  the  great  decay  of  serious  religion 
among  many  professors,  and  the  increasing  rage  of  the  enemies  of 
real  godliness,  manifestly  seized  on  and  sunk  his  spirits ;  and  he 
died,  when  he  had  not  been  much  longer  an  inhabitant  here  below 
than  his  blessed  Master  was,  whom  he  served  with  his  whole  heart, 
according  to  the  best  light  he  had."  Application  was  made  to  the 
vicar  of  Preston  to  have  him  buried  in  the  church ;  but  the  appli- 
cation was  refused ;  and,  in  the  churchyard,  no  stone  tells  where 
his  ashes  lie,  nor  is  there  any  monument  to  record  his  worth. 

From  the  concluding  sentence  of  Dr  Calamy,  it  would  seem 
that  John  Wesley  died  about  the  early  age  of  thirty-three  or 
thirty-four.  He  left  behind  him  two  sons,  Samuel  and  Matthew, 
and  a  faithful  wife,  who  remained  his  widow  for  about  half  a 
century. 

Limited  space  forbids  further  details  concernpg  Samuel  Wes- 
ley's father ;  in  fact,  further  details  do  not  exist.  John  Wesley, 
though  young  in  years,  evinced  a  mind  elevated  far  above  the 
common  level,  even  of  those  who  have  had  the  advantages  of  a 
collegiate  education.  He  was  no  unthinking  zealot  or  timid 
changeling.  He  had  made  himself  master  of  the  controverted 
points  between  the  Established  Church  and  Dissenters,  and  his  opi- 
nions, being  founded  upon  conviction,  were  held  with  the  fidelity 
of  a  martyr's  grasp.  To  say  nothing  of  other  facts,  his  interview 
with  the  Bishop  of  Bristol  displays  the  same  sincere  and  zealous 
piety,  the  same  manly  sense,  and  the  same  heroic  yet  respectful 
boldness,  which  distinguished  his  son  Samuel  and  his  grandsons 
John  and  Charles  in  after  years.  Dr  A.  Clarke  adds,  that  from 
the  same  conversation  the  reader  may  learn  two  important  facts : 
— 1.  That  the  grandfather  of  the  founder  of  Methodism  was  a 
lay-preacher.  2.  That  he  was  an  itinerant  evangelist.  Indeed 
we  find  in  John  Wesley's  history  an  epitome  of  the  Methodism 


PARENTAGE.  51 

which  sprang  up,  through  the  instrumentality  of  his  grandsons 
John  and  Charles ;  his  mode  of  preaching,  matter,  manner,  and 
success,  bearing  a  strikmg  resemblance  to  theirs  and  to  their  co- 
adjutors. 

We  can  only  add,  that  a  portrait  of  John  Wesley  is  published 
in  the  Methodist  Magazine  for  1840.  The  hair  is  long,  and  parted 
in  the  middle.  The  forehead  is  capacious,  the  nose  large,  the  eyes 
soft  and  sweet,  the  face  without  whiskers,  and  the  general  expres- 
sion of  the  countenance  highly  sad  and  thoughtful. 

Before  leaving  the  parentage  of  Samuel  Wesley,  a  few  words 
must  be  said  concerning  his  mother.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
one  distinguished  man  and  the  niece  of  another.  Her  father  was 
the  Rev.  John  White,  one  of  the  three  assessors  of  the  Assembly 
of  Divines,  and  long  known  as  " the  Patriarch  of  Dorchester;" 
a  man  whom  Fuller  describes  as  being  grave  without  being 
morose,  and  who,  in  the  course  of  his  ministry,  "  expounded  the 
Scriptures  all  over  and  half  over  again  ;"  a  man  who  had  the  com- 
mand of  his  own  passions  and  of  the  purses  of  his  parishioners ; 
for  he  was  so  much  beloved  by  his  people  that,  "  he  could  wind 
them  up  to  what  height  he  pleased." 

John  White  was  born  at  Stanton  St  John,  in  December  1574. 
After  two  years  of  probation  at  Winchester  school,  he  was  admitted 
perpetual  fellow  of  New  College,  Oxford,  in  1595.  Here  he  took 
his  degrees  in  arts,  was  admitted  into  holy  orders,  and  became  a 
frequent  preacher  in  and  about  Oxford.  In  ]  606,  he  obtained  the 
rectory  of  Trinity  Church,  Dorchester.  About  1624,  he  and  some 
of  his  friends  projected  the  new  colony  of  Massachusetts,  in  New 
England,  and,  after  surmounting  many  obstacles,  secured  a  patent. 
The  object  was  to  provide  an  asylum  for  the  persecuted  fugitives, 
who  were  not  able  to  conform  to  the  ceremonies  and  discipline  of 
the  Church  of  England.  White  himself  had  scruples  respecting 
the  worship  and  proceedings  of  the  same  church  ;  and,  in  1630,  was 
prosecuted  by  Archbishop  Laud,  in  the  High  Commission  Court, 
for  preaching  against  Arminianism  and  the  ceremonies.  He  was 
also  a  sufferer  during  the  civil  wars,  a  party  of  horse  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Dorchester,  under  the  command  of  Prince  Rupert, 
having  plundered  his  house  and  taken  away  his  library.  On  this 
occasion,  he  made  his  escape  to  London,  and  was  appointed  min- 
ister of  the  Savoy.    In  1640,  he  was  one  of  the  learned  divines 


52  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

directed  to  assist  in  "  a  committee  of  religion,"  appointed  by  the 
House  of  Lords.  In  1643,  he  was  chosen  to  be  one  of  the  West- 
minster Assembly  of  Divines.  Two  years  after,  he  succeeded  the 
ejected  Dr  Featley  as  rector  of  Lambeth,  and  had  assigned  to  him 
the  use  of  his  predecessor's  library,  until  his  own,  carried  away  by 
Prince  Eupert's  soldiers,  should  be  returned  to  him.  In  1647,  he 
was  offered  the  wardenship  of  New  College  but  refused  it,  and,  as 
soon  as  possible,  returned  to  his  old  flock  at  Dorchester,  for  whom 
he  had  the  greatest  affection,  and  where  he  had  passed  the  hap- 
piest of  his  days.  He  died  suddenly  at  Dorchester,  July  21, 1648, 
when  John  Wesley,  who  married  his  daughter,  was  only  twelve 
years  old.  John  White  was  a  man  of  great  zeal,  activity,  and 
learning ;  and  even  Anthony  a  Wood  allows  that  he  was  "  a  most 
moderate  Puritan."  By  his  wisdom  the  town  of  Dorchester  was 
greatly  benefited,  and,  for  many  years,  he  exercised  a  patriarchal 
influence  among  the  inhabitants  ;  but,  towards  the  end  of  his  days, 
factions  and  adverse  opinions  crept  in  among  his  flock,  and  a  new 
race  sprung  up,  who  either  knew  not  or  refused  to  acknowledge 
the  worth  of  this  godly  man.  "  Of  such  disrespect,"  says  Fuller, 
"  he  was  sadly  and  silently  sensible."  He  married  the  sister  of  Dr 
Burgess,  the  great  Nonconformist,  who  afterwards,  being  reclaimed 
to  the  Church  of  England,  wrote  in  its  defence.  The  works  of 
John  White  are — 1.  "  A  Commentary  upon  the  First  Three  Chap- 
ters in  Genesis ; "  2. "  A  Way  to  the  Tree  of  Life,  discovered  in  sundry 
Directions  for  the  Profitable  Keading  of  the  Scriptures;"  3.  "A 
Digression  concerning  the  Morality  of  the  Fourth  Commandment," 
printed  and  published  with  the  preceding ;  4.  A  few  sermons. 

The  mother  of  Samuel  Wesley  was  the  daughter  of  this  dis- 
tinguished man.  Probably  she  was  his  youngest  child,  as  there 
is  evidence  to  show  that  she  survived  her  father  for  more  than 
sixty  years. 

She  was  the  niece  of  another  man  of  mark,  the  celebrated 
Dr  Fuller.  Thomas  Fuller  was,  in  many  respects,  a  remarkable 
character.  At  the  age  of  twelve,  he  was  deemed  fit  for  the  studies 
of  the  university,  whither  he  was  sent  accordingly.  When  he 
was  three-and-twenty  he  was  collated  to  a  prebend's  stall  in 
Salisbury  Cathedral.  Soon  after  this,  he  became  rector  of  Broad 
Windsor,  in  Dorsetshire.  At  the  age  of  thirty-three,  he  removed 
to  London,  where  he  officiated  as  lecturer  in  the  Savoy  Church  in 
the  Strand.     After  this,  his  life  was  chequered,  but  bis  pen  was 


PARENTAGE.  53 

hardly  ever  idle.  In  succession  he  published  his  "  Pisgah  Sight 
of  Palestine,"  "Church  History  of  Britain/'  "A  Defence  of  it 
against  Dr  Heylin/'  "  History  of  the  Holy  War/'  "  History  of  the 
Worthies  of  England/'  all  in  folio.  He  was  appointed  chaplain  to 
Charles  II.,  was  created  doctor  of  divinity,  and  bid  fair  to  become  a 
bishop,  when  he  was  seized  with  fever,  of  which  he  died  in  1661. 
His  funeral  was  attended  by  two  hundred  of  the  clergy,  showing  the 
high  estimation  in  which  he  was  held.  His  writings  possess  much 
learning,  wit,  and  humour,  with  an  elaborate  display  of  quaint  con- 
ceit, a  quality  highly  thought  of  at  the  time  he  wrote,  and  which,  in 
him,  appears  to  have  been  natural.  He  was  an  almost  unequalled 
punster,  but  sometimes  met  his  match.  Once,-  when  attempting 
to  play  off  a  joke  upon  a  gentleman,  whose  name  was  Sparrow- 
hawk,  he  received  the  following  retort  : — "  What/'  said  Fuller, 
who  was  very  corpulent,  "  what  is  the  difference  between  an  owl 
and  a  sparrowhawk  ? "  "  It  is,"  replied  the  other,  "fuller  in  the 
hedid,  fuller  in  the  body,  Siwdi  fuller  all  over."  Thomas  Fuller  was 
not  only  eminent  for  his  learning,  his  writings,  and  his  wit,  but 
also  for  his  prodigious  memory.  He  could  repeat  five  hundred 
strange  and  unconnected  words  after  twice  hearing  them,  and  a 
sermon  verbatim  after  he  had  heard  it  once.  He  undertook,  after 
passing  from  Temple  Bar  to  the  farthest  end  of  Cheapside  and 
back  again,  to  mention  all  the  signs  over  the  shop  doors,  in  regular 
succession,  on  both  sides  of  the  streets,  and  to  repeat  the  names 
both  backwards  and  forwards  ;  and  this  almost  jncredible  task  he 
performed  with  the  utmost  exactness. 

Such,  then,  were  the  father  and  the  uncle  of  Samuel  Wes- 
ley's mother.  Of  herself  little  is  known.  As  already  shown,  her 
father  died  when  she  was  young.  Her  uncle  died  when  her 
husband  was  suffering  imprisonment  for  conscience'  sake.  Her 
husband  died  about  the  early  age  of  thirty-four,  leaving  her 
nothing  but  his  holy  example,  his  loving  prayers,  and  at  least 
two  young  children.  How  she  obtained  a  living,  in  the  early 
years  of  her  widowhood,  there  is  no  evidence  to  show ;  but, 
in  her  later  years,  she  was  obliged  to  depend  on  the  little  help  of 
£10  per  annum,  which  her  son  Samuel  was  accustomed  to  squeeze 
out  of  his  sadly  too  small  Epworth  income.  The  whole  of  her 
married  life  was  one  continued  scene  of  persecution  ;  and  the  forty 
years  of  her  long  and  dreary  widowhood,  was  an  unceasing  struggle 
with  poverty  and  its  attendant  pain.    She  was  alive  in  1710. — See 


54  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

Clarke's  "Wesley  Family/'  vol.  ii.  p.  144.     Would  that  we  knew 
more  of  her  suflFering  history! 

[The  facts  in  this  chapter  have  been  collected  from  Seal's  Fathers  of  the 
Wesley  Family,  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rehellion,  Anthony  Wood's  A  thence 
Oxoniensis,  Orme's  Life  of  Br  John  Owen,  Chalmers's  General  Biographical 
Dictionary,  Fuller's  Worthies  of  England ;  and  also  from  other  books  and  tracts 
mentioned  in  the  chapter  itself.] 


CHAPTER  III. 

SCHOOL  DAYS — 1662-1683. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  born  at  Winterborn-Whitcliurch,  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1662.  He  was  educated  at  the  Free  School,  at 
Dorchester,  by  Mr  Henry  Dolling,  to  whom,  out  of  respect,  he 
dedicated  the  first  work  that  he  published.*  Dorchester  Free 
School  was  built  by  Edward  Hardy,  of  Wyke,  near  Weymouth, 
about  the  year  1579.  Young  Wesley  remained  here  until  he  was 
a  little  more  than  fifteen  years  of  age,  when  he  was  sent  to  an 
academy  in  London.  He  continued  in  London  until  August 
1683,  when  he  had  nearly  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-one. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  period  in  English  history  more  pregnant 
with  painful  interest  than  the  first  twenty-one  years  of  Samuel 
Wesley's  life.  He  came  into  the  world  four  months  after  that 
dark  day  of  St  Bartholomew,  when  his  father,  and  his  grand- 
father, and  more  than  two  thousand  other  godly  ministers  of 
Christ,  were  ejected  from  their  churches,  and  driven  from  their 
homes.  When  he  was  yet  a  child,  the  great  plague  of  London 
swept  away  one  hundred  thousand  of  its  inhabitants ;  and  the 
great  fire  made  nearly  the  whole  city  a  sightless  heap  of  cinders, 
from  the  Tower  to  Temple  Bar.  Taking  advantage  of  the  con- 
fusion produced  by  these  terrible  events,  the  Covenanters  in  the 
West  of  Scotland  rose  up,  and  demanded  redress  of  their  griev- 
ances, and  the  removal  of  Episcopacy.  Archbishop  Sharp,  ex- 
changing the  crosier  for  the  sword,  took  the  field  against  them. 
Forty  were  killed  on  Pent! and  Hills,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty 
taken  prisoners.    Ten  were  hanged  in  Edinburgh  upon  one  gibbet, 

*  Mr  Dolling  became  master  of  Dorcliester  School  in  1664,  and  held  the  office 
until  1675.  He  was  LL.B  of  Wadham  College,  Oxford ;  and  translated  "  The 
Whole  Duty  of  Man  "  into  Latin.  The  work,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  Dorches- 
ter School  Library,  was  licensed  in  1678. — Hutchin's  History  of  Dorsetshire. 


56  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  "WESLEY.  [1678. 

and  thirty-five  more  were  sent  back  to  the  west  of  Scotland, 
and  there  hanged,  in  front  of  their  own  dwellings,  the  ministers 
of  the  Established  Church  declaring  them  damned  to  all  eternity 
for  their  rebellion,  and  the  archbishop  employing  his  Episcopal 
genius  in  the  invention  of  a  new  infernal  instrument  of  torture, 
and  spending  his  hours  out  of  the  sacred  pulpit,  not  so  much 
in  sacred  exercises  as  in  studying  how  to  make  "the  boots" 
excruciate  the  surviving  associates  of  those  executed  men.  Claren- 
don, who  had  much  to  do  with  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Uni- 
formity, was  now  deprived  of  the  great  seal,  was  accused  of 
treason,  and  obliged  to  flee  to  France  for  safety.  Sir  Matthew 
Hale,  Bishoj)  Wilkins,  and  others,  made  an  effort  to  have  the 
Presbyterians  comprehended  in  the  Established  Church,  and  to 
secure  toleration  for  all  the  other  dissenting  sects  ;  but  the  ortho- 
doxy of  parliament  was  as  intolerant  as  ever,  and  it  was  a  common 
saying  at  the  time,  that  whoever  proposed  new  laws  about  religion 
ought  to  do  it  with  a  rope  round  his  neck.  The  bishops  and  High 
Churchmen  continued  to  preach  the  divine  right  of  kings  and 
passive  obedience,  and  the  court  plunged  more  deeply  than  ever 
into  debauchery  and  sin. 

In  1668,  the  Puritans  and  apprentices  about  Moorfields  took 
the  liberty  to  pull  down  a  number  of  brothels,  and  then  to  say, 
with  some  significance,  that  having  demolished  the  little  ones  they 
ought  not  to  spare  the  great  one  at  Whitehall.  Colonel  Blood, 
the  villainous  desperado,  after  nearly  murdering  Lord  Ormond, 
and  after  stealing  the  crown  of  England  from  the  Tower,  was  not 
only  pardoned,  but  admitted  into  the  privacy  and  intimacy  of  the 
court,  became  a  personal  favourite  of  the  king,  was  constantly 
seen  about  the  palace,  and  had  granted  to  him,  for  his  base  and 
bloody  deeds,  an  estate  in  Ireland,  worth  £500  a-year.  In  1 673 
the  Test  Act  was  passed,  which  provided  that  all  who  refused  to 
take  the  oaths,  and  to  receive  the  sacrament,  according  to  the 
rites  of  the  Church  of  England,  should  be  debarred  from  public 
employment.  In  1677,  Charles  not  only  permitted  his  nephew, 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  to  come  to  England,  but  hastily  made  up  a 
marriage  between  the  prince  and  his  niece,  Mary,  the  elder  daugh- 
ter of  James,  the  Duke  of  York,  by  Anne  Hyde, — Charles  alleging 
that  this  measure  was  forced  upon  him  by  the  jealous  fears  of  the 
nation,  particularly  since  the  Duke  of  York  had  declared  himself  a 
Papist. 


AGE  15.]  SCHOOL  DAYS,  57 

In  1678,  the  year  in  which  Samuel  Wesley  was  sent  to  school 
in  London,  the  popish  plot  of  Titus  Gates  was  developed.  Titus 
was  the  son  of  an  Anabaptist  ribbon  weaver.  After  acting  as 
chaplain  to  one  of  Cromwell's  regiments  in  Scotland,  he  took 
orders  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  obtained  the  living  of  Hast- 
ings in  Sussex.*  Whilst  discharging  his  sacred  duties,  he  was 
twice  convicted  of  perjury.  He  was  then  appointed  chaplain  on 
board  a  man-of-war,  but  was  dismissed  with  added  infamy.  Two 
years  before  the  development  of  his  plot,  he  was  admitted  into  the 
service  of  the  popish  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  suddenly  became  a 
Papist.  He  was  now  sent  to*  a  Jesuits'  College  in  Spain,  from 
which,  in  a  short  time,  he  was  disgracefully  expelled.  He  re- 
crossed  the  Pyrenees,  and  presented  himself,  as  a  mendicant,  at  the 
gate  of  the  Jesuit  College,  at  St  Omar.  Here,  for  a  while,  he 
lived  among  the  students  and  novices,  and  was  then  cast  out  with 
shame,  and  was  obliged  to  return  to  England  without  cassock  and 
without  coat.  It  so  happened  that,  just  at  this  juncture,  Dr 
Tonge,  rector  of  St  Michael's,  in  Wood  Street,  London,  was  a 
great  Protestant  alarmist.  Titus  obtained  access  to  him,  worked 
upon  his  fears,  and,  by  his  means,  was  brought  before  the  Privy 
Council.  Here,  in  a  new  suit  of  clothes  and  a  sacerdotal  gown,  he 
alleged  that,  by  the  authority  of  the  pope,  a  number  of  Jesuits 
were  plotting  the  murder  of  the  king,  and  of  his  brother  James, 
the  Duke  of  York ;  that  these  Jesuits  had  £60,000  a-year  at  their 
command,  to  assist  in  carrying  out  their  murderous  intentions;  that 
repeated  commissions  had  been  given  to  shoot  the  king,  and  that 
the  queen's  physician  had  been  urged  to  poison  him ;  that  a 
wager  had  been  laid  that  the  king  should  eat  no  more  Christmas 
pies,  and  that  if  he  would  not  become  R.  C.  (Rex  Catholicus)  he 
should  no  longer  be  C.  R.  (Charles  Rex ;)  that  the  Jesuits  had  been 
the  authors  of  the  great  fire  in  London,  and  were  now  concocting 
a  plan  for  the  burning  of  Westminster,  Wapping,  and  all  the 
ships  upon  the  river ;  and  that,  with  the  full  expectation  that  all 
these  things  would  be  done,  the  pope  had  already,  by  a  secret  bull, 
filled  up  all  the  bishoprics,  and  had  made  appointments  to  most 
of  the  high  offices  of  state. 

The  Privy  Council  heard  these  statements  of  Titus  Gates  with 
astonishment.  Meanwhile,  Sir  Edmondbury  Godfrey,  who  had 
taken  Gates'  depositions,  suddenly  disappeared  from  his  house  in 
*  Dryden's  Miscellaneous  Woi-lc$,  vol.  i.  notes,  p.  54.    1760. 


58  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l678. 

Westminster,  and  was  found  brutally  murdered  in  a  ditch  near 
Primrose  Hill.  The  ghastly  body  was  exhibited  to  many  thousands, 
who  shuddered  and  wept  at  the  sight  of  one  whom  they  deemed  to 
be  a  Protestant  martyr.  The  funeral  was  attended  by  an  immense 
procession,  having  at  its  head  seventy  Protestant  divines,  in  full 
canonicals.  The  panic  spread,  and  Protestants,  of  all  classes,  con- 
formists and  non-conformists,  royalists  and  republicans,  considered 
their  lives  in  danger.  Titus  Gates  was  summoned  before  parlia- 
ment. Lord  Stafford  and  four  other  Catholic  lords  were  committed 
to  the  Tower.  Common  prisons  were  crammed  with  Papists.  The 
House  declared  "  that  there  hath  been,  and  still  is,  a  damnable 
and  hellish  plot,  contrived  and  carried  on  by  the  popish  recusants, 
for  assassinating  the  king,  for  subverting  the  government,  and  for 
destroying  the  Protestant  religion."  Titus  Gates  was  proclaimed 
the  saviour  of  the  nation,  and  had  a  pension  awarded  of  £1200  a- 
year.  Charles  yielded  to  the  storm  of  agitation,  and  Catholics 
were  expelled  from  their  seats  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament, — seats 
which  were  not  regained,  by  their  successors,  for  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  afterwards,  until  1829.  Titus  Gates  went  further  still, , 
and  even  accused  the  Queen  of  England,  at  the  bar  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  of  high  treason,  declaring  that  he  himself  had  heard 
her  say,  "  I  will  no  longer  suffer  such  indignities  to  my  bed ;  I 
am  content  to  join  in  procuring  his  death,  and  in  the  propagation 
of  the  Catholic  faith."  This  accusation,  however,  was  allowed  to 
drop ;  but  Stayley,  the  banker.  Father  Ireland,  the  Jesuit,  and  five 
other  persons,  were  tried  and  convicted,  and  then  executed  at 
Tyburn  for  their  complicity  with  the  alleged  popish  plot. 

Space  forbids  further  details,  except  to  add,  that  as  soon  as 
King  James  ascended  the  throne,  Titus  Gates  was  thrown  into 
prison,  and  was  tried  for  perjury  in  reference  to  his  assertions 
respecting  the  popish  conspiracy.  He  was  found  guilty,  and  was 
sentenced  to  be  stripped  of  his  clerical  habit,  to  be  pilloried  in 
Palace  Yard,  to  be  led  round  Westminster  Hall,  with  an  inscrip- 
tion over  his  head  declaring  his  infamy,  to  be  pilloried  again  in 
front  of  the  Royal  Exchange,  to  be  whipped  from  Aldgate  to 
Newgate,  and,  after  an  interval  of  two  days,  from  Newgate  to  Ty- 
burn. If  he  survived  this  horrible  infliction,  he  was  to  be  kept 
close  prisoner  for  life,  and,  five  times  a-year,  he  was  to  be  brought 
forth  from  his  dungeon,  and  exposed  in  the  pillory  in  different 
parts  of  London. 


AGE  15.]  SCHOOL  DAYS.  53 

The  whipping,  says  Neal,  was  inflicted  with  a  severity  unknown 
to  the  English  nation.  Dr  Calamy  tells  us  that  he  saw  Gates  at 
the  cart-tail  from  Newgate  to  Tyburn,  and  that  his  back,  fearfully 
swollen  with  the  first  whipping,  looked  as  if  it  had  been  flayed. 
He  adds  :  "  Gates  was  a  man  of  invincible  courage,  and  endured 
what  would  have  killed  a  great  many  others ;  and  yet,  after  all, 
he  was  but  a  sorry,  foul-mouthed  wretch."  Macaulay  says : 
"Whilst  he  was  being  whipped  from  Aldgate  to  Newgate,  the 
blood  ran  down  in  rivulets,  and  his  bellowings  were  frightful  to 
hear.  When  brought  out  again,  to  be  whipped  from  Newgate  to 
Tyburn,  it  was  necessary  to  drag  him  to  Tyburn  on  a  sledge.  A 
person  who  counted  the  stripes  on  this  -second  day,  said  that  they 
were  seventeen  hundred."  The  whipping  was  so  terribly  cruel, 
that  it  was  evidently  the  intention  of  the  court  to  kill  him ;  but, 
by  the  care  of  his  friends,  he  recovered.  During  many  months, 
he  remained  ironed  in  the  darkest  hole  in  Newgate,  sitting  whole 
days,  uttering  deep  groans,  with  his  arms  folded,  and  his  hat 
over  his  eyes.  He  lived  to  the  reign  of  King  William,  when 
a  pension  of  about  £300  a-year  was  settled  on  him, — a  sum 
which  he  thought  unworthy  his  acceptance,  but  which  he  took 
with  the  savage  snarl  of  disappointed  greediness.  About  the  year 
1698,  he  was  restored  to  his  place  among  the  Baptists  ;  but,  in  a 
few  months,  was  ejected  from  their  communion  as  a  disorderly 
person  and  a  hypocrite.     He  died  in  1705. 

But  to  return.  Such  was  the  excitement  created  by  Gates's 
allegations,  that,  in  1679,  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  House  of 
Commons  was  to  pass  a  resolution,  "  that  the  Duke  of  York,  being 
a  Papist,  and  the  hopes  of  his  coming  such  to  the  crown,  had 
given  the  greatest  countenance  to  the  present  conspiracies  and 
designs  against  the  king  and  the  Protestant  religion."  The  House 
also  voted  an  address  to  the  king,  requesting  him  to  banish  all 
Papists  in  London  twenty  miles  from  its  borders,  and  to  put  all 
sea-ports,  fortresses,  and  ships  into  trusty  hands.  In  the  mean- 
time, Charles  induced  his  unpopular  popish  brother  to  retire  to 
Brussels  ;  but,  before  he  went,  James  exacted  from  the  king  a 
formal  declaration  that  the  young  Duke  of  Monmouth  was  illegi- 
timate. The  Commons,  not  satisfied  with  what  they  had  already 
done,  proceeded  with  their  famous  Bill  of  Exclusion,  by  which 
the  crown  of  England  was  to  pass  from  Charles  to  the  next  Pro- 
testant heir,  as  if  the  Duke  of  York  were  dead.     This  bill  was 


60  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l678. 

read  a  second  time,  when  Charles  suddenly  dissolved  parlia- 
ment. 

Whilst  all  this  was  going  on  in  England,  exciting  events  were 
occurring  in  Scotland.  There,  dragoons  were  dispersing  field- 
meetings,  and  many  a  moor  was  made  wet  with  the  blood  of 
Covenanters.  At  one  field  conventicle,  upwards  of  one  hundred 
men  were  killed  in  cold  blood,  Balfour  had  mortally  wounded 
Archbishop  Sharp  ;  and  Kussell  had  finished  the  work  by  hacking 
his  skull  to  pieces ;  while  the  rest  of  their  companions  retired  to 
a  cottage  on  the  moor,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  the  day  in 
thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  work 
so  glorious.  The  Duke  of  Monmouth  was  sent,  with  five  thousand 
troops,  to  put  an  end  to  a  state  of  things  like  this  ;  and  the  battle 
of  Bothwell  Bridge  was  fought.  Then  James,  Duke  of  York,  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  exercised  the  functions  of  a  viceroy,  under  the 
title  of  "  King's  Commissioner." 

Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Bothwell  Bridge,  a  band  of  the  most 
enthusiastic  of  the  Covenanters  rallied  round  a  man  called  Cameron, 
a  preacher,  from  whom  they  derived  the  name  of  Cameronians. 
Cameron  affixed  to  the  market-cross  of  Sanquhar  "  A  Declaration 
and  Testimony  of  the  true  Presbyterian,  anti-prelatic,  anti-erastian, 
and  persecuted  party  of  Scotland."  In  this  document,  he  renounced 
and  disowned  Charles  Stuart,  and  declared  war  against  him  as  a 
tyrant  and  usurper.  Cameron,  with  a  mere  handful  of  men,  was 
surprised  by  three  troops  of  dragoons,  and,  with  his  brother  and 
ten  of  his  followers,  died  fighting.  A  few  escaped  with  Cargill, 
another  preacher,  who,  at  Torwood,  pronounced  excommunication 
against  Charles  II.,  king  of  Scotland,  for  his  mocking  of  God,  his 
perjury,  adultery,  incest,  drunkenness,  and  dissembling  with  both 
God  and  man.  Cargill  was  taken  prisoner  on  July  26,  1681,  and, 
with  four  of  his  followers,  was  the  next  day  hanged.  Farther  pro- 
ceedings followed.  Lord  Belhaven  was  imprisoned  ;  and  the  Earl  of 
Argyle  was  committed  on  the  charge  of  treason,  but  escaped  from 
a  murderous  death  by  escaping  from  his  dungeon.  Covenanters, 
Cameronians,  and  all  who  were  suspected  of  associating  with  them, 
or  of  rendering  them  merciful  assistance  in  their  hour  of  need, 
were  punished.  Courts  of  judicature,  with  their  "  boots "  and 
other  instruments  of  torture,  were  set  up,  both  in  the  south  and 
west  of  Scotland.  Above  two  thousand  persons  were  outlawed ; 
and  the  soldiers  were  authorised  to  shoot  all  delinquents  refusing 


AGE  15.]  SCHOOL  DAYS.  61 

to  renounce  Cameron's  and  Cargill's  declarations.  Thousands  of 
Presbyterians,  who  had  taken  no  part  with  these  desperate  en- 
thusiasts, began  to  think  of  emigrating  to  America. 

In  June  ]  683,  the  famous  Rye-House  Plot  against  Charles's  life 
was  unfolded.  The  Duke  of  Monmouth  immediately  absconded, 
showing  a  delicate  regard  for  his  own  safety,  and  a  cowardly  dis- 
regard for  the  safety  of  his  friends.  William  Lord  Russell  was 
committed  to  the  Tower.  Howard,  his  relative,  was  discovered 
hidden  in  a  chimney;  was  taken  in  his  shirt,  and  carried  before 
the  Council ;  where  the  kneeling,  puling,  sobbing  caitiff  made  such 
confessions  as  led  to  the  immediate  arrest  of  the  Earl  of  Essex, 
Algernon  Sydney,  and  Hampden,  who  were  sent  to  join  Lord 
Russell  in  the  Tower.  Many  others,  Scots  as  well  as  English, 
were  arrested,  and  were  true,  to  the  edge  of  the  axe,  to  their 
friends  and  party.  When  Baillie,  of  Jerviswoode,  was  offered  his 
life  if  he  would  turn  evidence,  the  proud  Scot  smiled,  and  said, 
"  They  who  make  such  a  proposal  know  neither  me  nor  my 
country."  The  steps  taken  by  the  authorities  produced  a  diflFerent 
effect  upon  others.  The  magistrates  of  London  and  of  Middlesex 
were  terrified  into  loyalty,  and  presented  petitions,  praying  for  the 
suppression  of  dissenting  conventicles ;  for  justice  upon  "  atheisti- 
cal persons,  rebellious  spirits,  infamous  miscreants,  and  monsters;" 
and  for  the  condign  punishment  of  those  "  execrable  villains  and 
traitors"  convicted  of  a  design  against  his  Majesty's  precious  life. 
A  montb  after  his  arrest.  Lord  Russell  was  brought  to  trial ;  and, 
on  the  same  day,  the  Earl  of  Essex  either  committed  suicide,  or 
was  murdered  by  the  procurement  of  the  king  and  the  Duke  of 
York.  The  base  Howard  was  the  principal  witness  against  Rus- 
sell. The  Earl  of  Bedford  offered  to  the  king  £100,000,  if  he 
would  release  his  son  ;  but  Charles  replied,  "If  I  do  not  take  his 
life,  he  will  soon  take  mine."  And,  accordingly,  on  July  21, 
attended  by  Tillotson  and  Burnett,  the  unfortunate  Russell  was 
led  to  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  was  beheaded.  On  the  same  day, 
the  University  of  Oxford  published  its  decree  in  support  of  passive 
obedience,  or  the  right  of  kings  to  govern  wrong,  without  resist- 
ance or  challenge  from  their  suffering  subjects.  Seven  weeks 
after,  Algernon  Sydney  was  brought  to  trial  before  Judge  Jeflfries, 
the  legal  bravo,  who  was  as  bold  with  his  law  books  as  Charles's 
other  personal  favourite.  Colonel  Blood,  was  with  pistols,  daggers, 
and  dark  lanterns.     Lord  Howard  was  again  the  chief  witness ; 


62  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l678. 

and  Sydney,  on  the  8tli  of  December,  was  decapitated  on  Tower 
Hill. 

This  brings  us  down  to  the  time  when  Samuel  Wesley's  school 
days  ended  ;  and,  with  this  brief  survey  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II., 
we  must  content  ourselves,  only  adding  a  few  remarks  respecting 
the  morals  of  this  disgraceful  period  of  English  history. 

The  Restoration  brought  with  it  a  tide,  not  only  of  levity,  but 
of  licentiousness ; — an  inundation  of  all  the  debaucheries  of  the 
French  court,  in  which  Charles  and  his  followers  had  chiefly  spent 
their  exile.  The  passions  and  tastes  of  the  people,  which,  under 
the  rule  of  the  Puritans,  had  been  sternly  repressed,  and,  if  grati- 
fied at  all,  had  been  gratified  by  stealth,  now  broke  forth  with  un- 
governable violence ;  and,  as  soon  as  the  check  was  withdrawn, 
men  flew  to  frivolous  amusements,  and  to  criminal  pleasures,  with 
the  greediness  which  long  and  enforced  abstinence  naturally  pro- 
duces. Little  restraint  was  imposed  by  public  opinion  ;  and  there 
was  no  excess  which  was  not  encouraged  by  the  ostentatious  pro- 
fligacy of  Charles,  and  of  his  favourite  courtiers.  It  is  an  un- 
questionable, and  a  most  instructive  fact,  that  the  years  during 
which  the  political  power  of  the  Anglican  hierarchy  was  in  the 
zenith,  were  precisely  the  years  during  which  national  virtue  was 
at  the  lowest  point.* 

Swearing  and  profligate  conversation  were  now  so  prevalent, 
that  a  young  nobleman  or  man  of  family,  was  accounted  no  gen- 
tleman, that  allowed  two  hours  to  pass  in  company  without  in- 
venting some  new  modish  oath,  or  without  laughino;  at  the 
fopperies  of  priests,  or  without  making  lampoons  and  drolleries  on 
the  Holy  Bible.  In  the  highest  ranks,  talent  was  employed  in  be- 
dizening the  carrion  carcase,  and  rouging  the  yellow  cheeks  of  the 
foul  goddess  of  wantonness.  Worthless  actresses,  and  royal  and 
noble  concubines,  became  the  pratronesses,  and  even  the  wives  of 
the  highest  nobility.  Gaming  was  a  fashionable  phrenzy,  and  a 
noble  house  was  incomplete  without  a  basset-table.  Court  ladies 
became  so  equivocal  in  character,  that  few  cared  to  venture  the 
selection  of  a  wife  from  among  them.  Mrs  Jenyngs,  a  maid  of 
honour,  afterwards  Duchess  of  Tyrconnel,  dressed  herself  like  an 
orange  wench,  and  cried  oranges  about  the  streets.  Gentlemen 
arrayed  themselves  like  ladies,  and  ladies  disguised  themselves  like 
gentlemen.     Duelling  was  of  daily  occurrence.     Members  of  Par- 

*  Macaulay. 


AGE  15.]  SCHOOL  DAYS.  63 

liament  adjourned  to  refresh  themselves  at  taverns,  from  which 
they  returned  half  drunk  to  finish  their  senatorial  discussions. 
Younger  sons  of  good  families,  heirs  of  wealthy  citizens,  and  raw 
young  country  squires  huzzaed  for  the  king,  and  then  broke  the 
king's  peace,  to  show  their  love  for  him ;  scoured  the  streets  in 
nocturnal  bands ;  stormed  taverns  ;  broke  windows  ;  wrenched  off 
door-knockers ;  daubed  and  defaced  tradesmen's  signs ;  routed 
apple-merchants,  fishmongers,  and  butter-women ;  attacked  and 
knocked  down  all  chance  passengers ;  and  generally  ended  by  a 
conflict  with  the  watch.  Gallantry  was  general,  from  the  half- 
fledged  stripling  fresh  from  the  teacher's  rod,  to  the  hoary-headed 
veteran,  whose  dim  eyes  could  scarcely  see  the  charms  with  which 
his  heart  was  smitten.  Foppery  in  dress  resulted,  and  gallants 
endeavoured  to  make  themselves  irresistible  by  the  newest  cut  of 
a  French  suit,  or  an  enormous  fleece  of  periwig. 

Still,  amid  all  this  profligate  frivolity  of  the  higher  classes,  the 
bulk  of  the  community  retained  much  of  the  old  English  spirit. 
Many  still  adhered  to  the  primitive  hours  of  their  forefathers  for 
going  to  bed,  getting  up,  and  transacting  business.  In  diet,  not- 
withstanding the  French  cookery  that  had  become  prevalent,  they 
stoutly  stood  by  old  English  fare.  The  people,  also,  were  in- 
tensely musical,  and  almost  every  person  of  education  could  sing 
by  the  scale,  and  play  upon  some  kind  of  instrument.  These 
were  days,  when  the  banks  of  the  Thames  were  as  melodious  as 
the  shores  of  the  Adriatic.  In  the  country,  the  baronial  table  was 
still  heart  of  oak,  and  was  laden  with  the  old  festive  hospitality. 
Huge  sirloins  and  mighty  plum-puddings  seemed  to  laugh  to 
scorn  the  continental  innovations  that  had  become  so  fashionable 
in  the  capital.  Country  squires  gave  landlord-feasts  to  their 
tenants ;  while  farmers  gave  harvest-homes  and  sheep-shearings  to 
their  labourers.  Swimming,  foot-racing,  skating,  horse-racing, 
bear  and  bull-baiting,  tennis,  and  bowls  were  the  people's  favourite 
out-door  sports ;  whilst  cards,  billiards,  chess,  backgammon,  erib- 
bage,  and  ninepins,  furnished  amusement  within.  On  Valentine's 
day,  gentlemen  sent  presents  of  gloves,  silk  stockings  and  garters, 
to  their  fair  valentines ;  and,  on  the  morning  of  May-day,  young 
ladies,  and  even  grave  matrons,  repaired  to  the  bright  green  fields 
to  gather  dew  to  beautify  their  complexions ;  while  milk-maids 
danced  in  the  public  streets,  their  milk-pails  wreathed  with  gar- 
lands, and  a  fiddler  playing  tunes  before  them. 


6-i  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lG78. 

The  age  was  light-hearted,  frivolous,  and  wicked  ;  and  yet  there 
flourished  in  it  some  of  the  greatest  men  that  England  has  ever 
had.  Abraham  Cowley,  replete  with  learning,  was  embellishing 
his  poetic  pages  with  all  the  ornaments  that  books  could  furnish 
him.  Samuel  Butler,  marvellously  acquainted  with  human  life, 
was  furnishing,  in  the  grossly  familiar  versification  of  his  "  Hudi- 
bras,"  sententious  distiches  and  proverbial  axioms  for  the  use  of 
future  generations.  Edmund  Waller  was  honoured  as  the  most 
elegant  and  harmonious  versifier  of  his  time.  Dryden's  prolific, 
but  extremely  licentious  pen,  displayed  a  versatility  of  talent 
almost  without  parallel.  Otway  wrote  some  of  the  most  pathetic 
tragedies  in  the  English  language,  and  terminated  a  miserable  life 
at  the  early  age  of  thirty-four.  Kalph  Cudworth  was  employing 
his  extensive  learning  and  profound  philosophy  in  the  production 
of  his  "  True  Intellectual  System  of  the  Universe."  Henry  More 
was  weeping  over  the  miseries  of  his  country,  and  studying  how  to 
check  the  Atheism  of  Thomas  Hobbes.  Isaac  Barrow  was  labour- 
ing for  words  to  express  the  amplitude  and  energy  of  his  thoughts, 
often  preaching  sermons  three  hours  long,  and  immoderately  using 
tobacco  as  his  "  panpharmacon  "  to  compose  and  regulate  his  mind. 
John  Bunyan  was  preaching  his  wondrous  sermons  when  out  of 
prison ;  and,  when  in  it,  making  tagged  laces  for  a  livelihood, 
and  writing  his  "  Pilgrim's  Progress."  Peter  Lely  was  command- 
ing admiration  and  acquiring  a  fortune  by  his  portrait-painting; 
and  Christopher  Wren,  a  great  philosopher,  and  one  of  the  most 
eminent  of  architects,  was  drawing  plans  for  rebuilding  London 
and  St  Paul's  Cathedral. 

It  was  amid  such  events,  in  the  midst  of  such  profligacy,  and 
surrounded  by  such  men,  that  Samuel  Wesley  spent  his  school- 
days' life. 

Young  Wesley  remained  at  the  Free  School,  Dorchester,  until 
he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  For  some  time  past,  his  father  had 
been  dead.  His  mother  was  a  widow,  and  was  poor.  The  boy, 
as  he  himself  tells  us,  "  was  almost  fit  for  the  university,"  but  the 
difficulty  was  to  find  means  to  send  him  there.  Like  his  father, 
and  his  two  grandfathers,  he  was  evidently  intended  for  the 
Christian  ministry ;  but,  considering  the  treatment  which  all  the 
three  had  experienced  at  the  hands  of  the  Episcopal  party,  it  is 
scarcely  probable  that  their  youthful  descendant  would,  at  this 
early  period  of  his  history,  feel  a  wish  to  enter  the  ministry  of 


AGE  15.]  SCHOOL  DAYS.  65^ 

the  Established  Church.  His  father  and  his  grandfathers,  though 
they  had  all  been  the  occui^ants  of  Church  livings,  were,  so  far  as 
Episcopacy  and  the  use  of  the  Liturgy  are  concerned,  Dissenters ; 
and  there  can  be  no  question,  that,  as  a  boy  fifteen  years  of  age, 
his  sympathies  were  with  them. 

But,  had  it  been  otherwise,  there  was  little  prospect  of  a  youth 
like  him  being  able  to  become  a  minister  of  the  Established  Church. 
To  become  such,  he  must  receive  Episcopal  ordination ;  and  to 
receive  that,  he  must  go  to  the  university  :  but  to  go  there  was 
impossible,  for  he  was  without  money,  and  was  without  Episcopal 
friends  to  send  him. 

His  Dissenting  friends  showed  him  kindness.  Without  any 
application  being  made  to  them,  either  by  his  mother  or  by  him- 
self, they  sent  him,  at  their  own  cost,  to  London,  for  the  purpose 
of  being  entered  at  one  of  their  private  academies,  and  of  being- 
trained  for  the  Dissenting  ministry.  He  tells  us  that  Dr  C  had 
the  care  of  one  of  the  most  considerable  of  these  seminaries,  and 
had  promised  him  tuition ;  but,  on  his  arrival  in  London  on  the 
8th  of  March  1678,  he  found  that  Dr  G.  was  just  deceased,  and 
so  his  hope  for  a  time  was  thwarted. 

He  was  now  sent  to  a  grammar-school,  where  his  progress 
was  such,  that  the  master  wished  him  to  proceed  to  the  university, 
and  actually  promised  him  a  handsome  subsistence  there.  At 
this  crisis,  his  Dissenting  friends  again  came  forward.  He  was 
a  youth  of  promise ;  and,  for  their  own  sake,  as  well  as  out 
of  respect  for  his  dead  father,  they  were  unwilling  to  have  him 
wrested  from  them. 

At  this  time,  a  fund  existed,  raised  by  the  collections  and  sub- 
scriptions of  a  certain  Dissenting  congregation,  for  the  purpose  of 
meeting  cases  like  that  of  young  Wesley.  Out  of  this  fund,  he 
was  granted  an  exhibition  of  £30  a  year ;  and  was  sent  to  Mr 
Veal's  academy  at  Stepney.  Wesley  says  that  his  relatives  con- 
sidered the  offer  of  the  Dissenters  to  possess  greater  advantages 
than  the  offer  which  was  made  to  him  by  the  master  of  the 
grammar-school  to  send  him  to  the  university,  but  in  what  re- 
spect it  was  considered  more  advantageous  we  are  left  to  guess. 

Edward  Veal,  the  principal  of  the  Stepney  Academy,  was,  in 
the  first  instance,  a  student  of  Christ's  Church  College,  Oxford, 
and  afterwards  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  He  was  ordained  at 
Win  wick,  in  Lancashire,  August  1 4, 1657.     When  he  left  Ireland, 

£ 


66  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1680. 

he  brought  with  him  a  testimonial  of  his  being  "a  learned,  orthodox 
minister,  of  a  sober,  pious,  and  peaceable  conversation ;  who,  during 
his  abode  in  the  college,  was  eminently  useful  for  the  instruction 
of  youth,  and  whose  ministry  had  been  often  exercised  in  and 
about  the  city  of  Dublin  with  great  satisfaction  to  the  godly,  until 
he  was  deprived  of  his  fellowship  for  nonconformity  to  the  cere- 
monies imposed  in  the  Church,  and  for  joining  with  other  mini- 
sters in  their  endeavours  for  a  reformation."  This  testimonial 
was  signed  by  seven  respectable  ministers,  one  of  whom  was  the 
celebrated  Stephen  Charnock,  at  that  time  exercising  his  ministry 
in  Dublin,  and  residing  in  the  house  of  Sir  Harry  Cromwell.  On 
leaving  Ireland,  Edward  Veal  became  chaplain  to  Sir  William 
Waller,  in  Middlesex,  and  afterwards  settled  as  a  Nonconformist 
minister  at  Wapping,  and  likewise  opened  the  academy  at  Stepney. 
He  died  June  6,  1708,  aged  seventy-six.  Four  of  his  sermons  are 
published  in  the  "  Morning  Exercises. '^  Dunton  says  he  "  was  an 
universal  scholar,  and  a  man  of  great  piety  and  usefulness.  His 
principles  were  very  moderate.  He  assisted  in  preparing  for  the 
press  the  posthumous  works  of  Stephen  Charnock ;"  and  wrote  the 
annotations  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  published  in  the 
Commentary  of  Matthew  Poole. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  a  student  in  Mr  Veal's  academy  for  about 
the  space  of  two  years,  during  which  his  tutor  read  to  him  a  course 
of  lectures  on  Logic  and  Ethics.  He  was  now  eighteen  years  of 
age ;  and,  as  he  himself  tells  us,  "  was  a  dabbler  in  rhyme  and 
faction,  and  had  already  printed  several  things  with  the  Party's  " 
(the  Dissenters)  "  imprimateur."  His  patrons  were  evidently  satis- 
fied with  his  behaviour  and  his  progress,  for,  before  the  two  years 
spent  at  Veal's  academy  had  expired,  he  received  an  additional 
bonus  of  £10  per  annum  from  the  hands  of  Dr  0(wen,)  who 
encouraged  him  in  the  prosecution  of  his  studies,  and  advised  him 
to  have  a  particular  regard  to  critical  learning. 

Mr  Veal  was  so  annoyed  and  prosecuted  by  the  neighbouring 
magistrates  that  he  broke  up  his  academy,  and  relinquished  the 
office  of  a  tutor.  In  consequence  of  this,  young  Wesley  was  again 
cast  afloat,  and  he  was  now  recommended  to  the  academy  of  Mr 
Charles  Morton,  of  Newington  Green,  where  he  remained  until 
the  summer  of  1683. 

Charles  Morton,  M.A.,  of  Wadham  College,  Oxford,  was  a 
descendant  from  an  ancient  family  at  Morton,  in  Nottingham- 


AGE  18.]  SCHOOL  DAYS.  67 

shire,  the  seat  of  T.  Morton,  secretary  to  King  Edward  III.  He 
was  born  about  the  year  1626.  His  father  was  rector  of  Pendavy, 
(Pendene-Vaii  ?)  in  Cornwall ;  and  his  two  brothers,  also,  were 
ministers.  When  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  his  grandfather, 
who  was  a  stanch  royalist,  sent  him  to  Oxford,  where  he  was 
exceedingly  studious,  and,  at  the  same  time,  zealous  for  the  rites 
and  ceremonies  of  the  Established  Church.  He  now  began,  how- 
ever, to  apply  himself  seriously  to  the  controversy  between  the 
Prelatists  and  the  Puritans ;  and,  after  mature  reflection,  joined 
himself  to  the  latter.  While  a  fellow  of  the  college,  he  was  highly 
esteemed  by  Dr  Wilkins  on  account  of  his  mathematical  genius. 
This  was  no  small  honour,  for  Wilkins  was  the  brother-in-law  of 
Oliver  Cromwell,  was  the  warden  of  Wadham  College,  and,  in 
after  years,  became  the  founder  of  the  Royal  Society,  and,  in  1668, 
was  raised  to  the  see  of  Chester.  Morton  began  his  ministry  in 
Oxford,  and  here  for  several  years  he  lived  as  a  Conformist.  After 
his  ejectment  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  he  resided  in  a  small  tene- 
ment of  his  own  in  the  parish  of  St  Ives,  and  preached  privately 
to  a  few  people  in  a  neighbouring  village.  Having  sustained  a 
large  loss  by  the  great  fire  of  London,  he  removed  thither  to  watch 
over  his  affairs.  Several  of  his  friends  prevailed  with  him  to  open 
an  academy  at  Newington  Green.  Here  he  had  many  pupils,  who 
became  exceedingly  useful  both  in  Church  and  State.  Scores  of 
young  ministers,  as  well  as  many  others  who  were  eminent  for 
scholarship,  were  educated  by  him.  He  was  in  all  respects  an 
excellent  man  ;  but  this  failed  to  save  him  from  persecution. 
During  the  time  that  young  Wesley  was  his  pupil,  he  was  obliged 
to  leave  his  school  and  to  hide  himself  Wesley  writes  :  "  He  had 
once  before  been  excommunicated,  and  a  capias  issued  out  against 
him,  on  which  he  was  taken.  But  while  in  custody  of  an  officer, 
in  whose  house  he  was  kept  previous  to  being  sent  to  prison,  the 
officer  died ;  and  there  being  none  to  detain  him,  he  returned 
home  again.  He  was  now  in  danger  of  a  second  capias,  on  which 
he  used  the  mediation  of  my  Lady  R.  to  get  some  respite,  and 
sent  his  sister  several  times  to  London  House  on  the  same  errand. 
My  Lord  of  L.  promised  him  all  reasonable  favour  if  he  would 
leave  Newington  Green  and  his  employment;  but  he  could  not 
suffer  him  to  continue  in  that,  because  it  was  so  much  to  the 
detriment  and  prejudice  of  the  Established  Church,  and  so  much 
an  affront  to  the  laws  and  universities.     This  threat  caused  Mr 


68  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I68O, 

Morton  to  abscond  some  time  at  a  friend's,  absenting  himself  from 
us,  and  leaving  the  senior  pupils  to  instruct  the  junior,"  After 
about  twenty  years'  continuance  in  the  office  of  a  tutor,  he  was  so 
harassed  with  legal  processes  from  the  Bishops'  Court  that  he  was 
obliged  to  relinquish  his  academy;  and,  in  1685,  two  years  after 
Samuel  Wesley  left  him  to  go  to  the  Oxford  University,  he  went 
to  America,  where  he  was  chosen  pastor  of  a  church  at  Charleston, 
and  became  vice-president  of  Harvard  College.  Here  he  died 
in  1697,  at  the  age  of  about  seventy-one.  He  was  a  man  of  a 
sweet  natural  temper,  and  of  a  generous  public  spirit,  an  inde- 
fatigable friend,  pious,  learned,  ingenious,  useful,  and  beloved  by  all 
who  knew  him.  He  published  nearly  twenty  treatises  and  other 
works, — all  of  them,  however,  compendious,  for  he  was  an  enemy 
to  large  volumes,  and  used  to  say,  "  A  great  book  is  a  great  evil." 

Dunton  states,  that  his  "  high  character  led  many  of  the  perse- 
cuted Nonconformists  to  join  him  in  America.  He  was  the  very 
soul  of  philosophy,  the  repository  of  all  arts  and  sciences,  and  of 
the  Graces  too.  His  discourses  were  not  stale  or  studied,  but 
always  new ;  high,  but  not  soaring ;  practical,  but  not  low.  His 
memory  was  as  vast  as  his  knowledge.  He  was  as  far  from  igno- 
rance as  from  pride  ;  and,  if  we  may  judge  of  a  man's  religion  by 
his  charity,  he  was  a  sincere  Christian." 

Samuel  Wesley  himself  says :  "  Mr  Morton  was  an  ingenious 
and  universally  learned  man ;  but  his  chiefest  excellency  lay  in 
mathematics.  He  had  many  gentlemen  of  estate,  who  paid  him 
well ;  but  he  thought  more  of  the  glory  of  God  than  of  his  own 
private  profit.  He  only  wished  to  save  himself  harmless ;  and, 
therefore,  if  he  had  little  for  some,  he  valued  it  not,  so  as  it  was 
barely  made  up  by  others,  and  he  could  send  out  new  ministers 
to  be  ordained  by  presbyters."  While,  however,  Mr  Wesley  speaks 
so  commendably  of  Mr  Morton,  his  language  is  widely  diflferent  in 
reference  to  Mr  Morton's  pupils.  He  writes  :  "  The  pupils  enter- 
tained a  mortal  aversion  to  the  Episcopal  order ;  and  there  were 
but  very  few  but  what  abhorred  monarchy  itself.  The  king-killing 
doctrines  were  generally  received  and  defended." 

On  one  occasion  some  of  the  students  went  out  at  midnight  to 
a  little  hill  not  far  from  Newington,  and,  with  a  speaking  trumpet, 
alarmed  the  town,  and  then,  through  the  trumpet,  bellowed  scan- 
dalous stories  respecting  the  clergyman  of  the  place,  the  Kev. 
MrS. 


AGE  18.]  SCHOOL  DAYS.  69 

Those  among  them  who  composed  the  bitterest  and  most  ill- 
mannered  sarcasms  on  the  public  prayers  and  liturgy  of  the  Church, 
were  caressed,  hugged,  encouraged,  and  commended  by  the  heads 
of  the  Dissenting  party,  Wesley  himself  sharing  in  the  applause 
awarded. 

The  students,  also,  were  in  the  habit  of  reading  "  the  most  lewd, 
abominable  books  that  ever  blasted  Christian  eye ;"  but  it  is  right 
to  add,  that  this  was  done  without  the  knowledge  of  their  tutors. 

Mr  Morton's  was  the  principal  Dissenting  academy  in  the  land, 
containing  forty  or  fifty  pupils,  and  having  annexed  to  it  "  a  fine 
garden,  a  bowling-green,  a  fish-pond,  and  a  laboratory  furnished 
with  all  sorts  of  mathematical  instruments."  * 

The  two  gentlemen  under  whose  care  Samuel  Wesley  was  placed 
in  London  were  men  of  learning,  of  piety,  and  of  general  excel- 
lence ;  and  well  would  it  have  been  if  he  had  had  no  worse  ad- 
visers than  these  \  but  he  writes  :  "  Some  of  their  (the  Dissenters) 
gravest,  eldest,  and  most  learned  ministers  encouraged  me  in  my 
silly  lampoons,  both  on  Church  and  State.  They  gave  me  subjects, 
and  furnished  me  with  matter ;  some  of  them  transcribed  my 
writings,  and  several  of  them  revised  and  corrected  them  before 
they  were  printed." 

Wesley  began  to  write  his  "  silly  lampoons"  soon  after  he  came 
to  London.  Some  of  his  first  squibs  were  thrown  at  a  worthy 
man,  who  deserved  more  respectful  treatment,  both  from  him  and 
some  others.  The  Eev,  Thomas  Doolittle,  whom  he  wantonly 
attacked,  was  a  man  of  distinguished  merit.  Born  at  Kidder- 
minster in  1680,  and  educated  in  the  College  of  Pembroke  Hall, 
Cambridge,  he  was,  for  nine  years,  the  incumbent  of  the  parish  of  St 
Alphage,  London.  After  being  ejected  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity, 
he  opened  a  boarding  school,  and,  though  against  the  law,  a  meet- 
ing-house in  Bunhill  Fields.  Here  he  preached  to  a  numerous 
congregation,  and  had  many  seals  to  his  ministry,  until  at  length, 
on  a  Saturday,  at  midnight,  the  train  bands  came  to  arrest  him  ; 
but  he  managed  to  escape.  Next  morning,  while  another  person 
was  preaching  for  him,  the  soldiers  rushed  into  the  chapel,  and 
the  officer,  addressing  the  preacher,  shouted,  "  I  command  you,  in 
the  king's  name,  to  come  down."  The  preacher  replied,  "  I  com- 
mand you,  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  kings,  not  to  disturb  His 
worship,  but  to  let  me  go  on."     The  officer  ordered  his  men  to 

*  Wesley's  Letter  from  a  Country  Divine.     Third  edit.     London  :  1706. 


70  .THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I68O, 

fire.  The  undaunted  preacher  clapped  his  hand  upon  his  heart, 
and  said,  "  Shoot,  if  you  please ;  you  can  only  kill  the  body." 
Great  confusion  followed,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  brave-hearted 
preacher  escaped ;  but  Doolittle's  pulpit  was  pulled  to  pieces, 
and  the  doors  of  his  meeting-house  were  fastened,  and  were 
branded  with  the  king's  broad  arrow.  After  this  Doolittle  opened 
a  private  academy  at  Islington,  where,  among  other  distinguished 
pupils,  he  had  the  care  of  Matthew  Henry,  the  author  of  the  most 
practical  Commentary  on  the  sacred  Scriptures  ever  published ; 
and  also  of  Edward  Calamy,  the  well  known  writer  of  the 
"  Nonconformists'  Memorials."  It  was  at  this  time  that  Mr 
Doolittle  published  his  work  entitled,  "  The  Lord's  Last  Suf- 
ferings," and  prefixed  to  it  a  copy  of  Greek  verses,  Doolittle's 
academy  at  Islington,  and  Veal's  at  Stepney,  seem  to  have  been 
sworn  enemies  to  each  other,  and  eagerly  longed  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  display  their  prowess  in  academic  conflict.  For  want  of 
a  more  proper  subject,  they  made  the  verses,  prefixed  to  Doolittle's 
book,  the  occasion  of  the  clash  of  arms  ;  and,  as  young  Wesley  was 
already  "  celebrated  for  his  vein  at  poetry,"  he  took,  as  Dunton 
tells  us,  a  prominent  part  in  a  skirmish,  which  seems  to  have  been 
wantonly  begun,  and  not  too  honourably  carried  on.  The  squibs 
which  Wesley  published  are  lost — a  thing  not  to  be  regretted. 

Doolittle  was  far  too  good  a  man  to  be  lampooned  by  the  clever, 
impertinent  striplings  belonging  to  a  neighbouring  school ;  but 
the  man  whose  goods  had  been  seized  and  sold,  and  whose  house 
and  person  had  been  threatened  by  persecuting  foes,  was  not  likely 
to  be  crestfallen  on  account  of  the  pretentious  swagger  of  young 
Wesley  and  his  coxcomb  companions. 

Another  of  Wesley's  lampoons,  written  while  he  was  at  Mor- 
ton's Acade.ny,  was  directed  against  Dr  Williams,  Bishop  of 
Chichester,  a  man  whom  Dunton  describes  as  "of  solid  worth 
and  distinguished  goodness."  Wesley  says  he  was  requested 
to  write  his  satire  against  Williams  by  a  Dissenting  minister 
of  no  mean  fame,  and  that  the  occasion  of  it  was  as  follows : — 
A  man,  killed  by  a  mob,  had  been  buried,  and  Williams  had 
ordered  his  body  to  be  taken  up,  that  a  coroner's  inquest  might 
be  held  upon  it.  Wesley  knew  nothing  of  the  affair  himself,  but 
obtained  full  instructions  from  a  minister  near  Clapham,  who  also 
gave  the  young  Horace  a  gumea  or  two  for  encouragement.  The 
lampoon  was  written,  and  Dr  Williams,  together  with  the  whole 


AGE  18.]  SCHOOLDAYS.  71 

order  of  bishops,  abused  to  the  very  utmost  of  the  young  poet's 
power,  while  his  juvenile  satirical  performance,  as  he  tells  us,  "  was 
sufficiently  applauded"  by  the  unwise  and  dishonourable  ministers 
who  had  prompted  him  to  undertake  such  a  work.  The  bishops 
of  that  period  might  not  be  as  praiseworthy  as  was  desirable  ;  but 
it  was  a  mean  action  for  Christian  mmisters  to  do  dirty  work  by 
proxy,  and  to  employ  a  young  fellow,  cleverer  than  themselves,  to 
write  a  pasquinade  which,  perhaps,  they  had  not  the  ability  to 
write. 

All  this  was  discreditable,  both  to  young  Wesley  and  to  his  promp- 
ters ;  but  there  was  something  else,  which,  but  for  his  own  good 
sense,  might  have  been  even  worse.  In  the  same  year  that  Samuel 
Wesley  was  born,  Biddle,  "  the  father  of  the  English  Unitarians," 
died.  Biddle  had  been  the  master  of  the  Free  School  of  St  Mary 
de  Crypt,  in  Gloucester,  and  had  adopted  the  Unitarian  doctrines 
respecting  the  Trinity.  Among  other  works  embodying  his  creed, 
he  published  a  tract,  entitled,  "Twelve  Arguments,  drawn  out 
of  the  Scriptures,  wherein  the  commonly-received  opinion  touch- 
ing the  Deity  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  clearly  and  fully  refuted."  The 
House  of  Parliament  ordered  this  tract  to  be  burnt  by  the  com- 
mon hangman,  and,  for  its  publication,  the  writer  was  doomed  to 
five  years'  imprisonment.  Biddle  was  repeatedly  imprisoned  after 
this,  and  died  September  22,  1662. 

He  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  and  was  an  unwearied  student. 
It  is  said  that  he  retained  the  whole  of  the  New  Testament  in  his 
memory  verbatim,  not  only  in  English,  but  in  Greek,  as  far  as 
the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Eevelation.  His  persecutions  made 
converts  to  his  principles,  particularly  in  London ;  and  from  these 
he  formed  a  distinct  and  separate  society,  not  only  for  the  pur- 
pose of  divine  worship,  but  for  the  free  investigation  of  theologi- 
cal questions.  The  members  of  this  society  were  called,  from 
Biddle,  Bidellians ;  and,  from  their  agreement  in  opinion  with 
the  followers  of  Socinus,  they  were  denominated  Socinians.  The 
name,  however,  which  most  properly  characterised  their  leading 
sentiment  was  that  of  Unitarians ;  and  in  this  way  the  Unitarian 
sect  in  England  had  its  origin.* 

It  is  a  disgraceful  fact  that  the  life  and  works  of  this  arch- 
heretic  were  in  the  hands  of  the  pupUs  of  Morton's  academy,  and 
that  Wesley  was  actually  employed  to  translate  some  of  those  per- 
*  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1790,  p.  63,  &c. 


72  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I68O. 

nicious  writings,  and  was  promised  a  considerable  gratuity  for 
doing  it.  He  says,  "  When  I  saw  what  it  was,  I  proceeded  no 
farther."  He  might,  however,  have  proceeded  farther,  and,  like 
many  other  juvenile  aspiragits,  whilst  dabbling  in  Socinian  works, 
might  have  become  a  Socinian  himself ;  and,  instead  of  becoming 
an  honoured  rector  of  the  Established  Church,  and  the  father  of 
the  greatest  reformer  of  the  age,  and  of  the  best  uninspired  hymn- 
ist  since  the  days  of  King  David,  he  might  have  dwindled  down 
into  a .  cold-hearted  sceptic,  with  a  creed  composed  of  negatives, 
and  a  life  bereft  of  blessings  to  those  among  whom  he  moved. 

There  is  no  intention,  in  all  this,  to  censure  Mr  Morton.  Twenty 
years  after  these  proceedings,  Wesley,  in  his  pamphlet  against 
Dissenting  Academies,  does  honour  both  to  Mr  Morton  and  him- 
self, by  writing  thus  :  "  I  must,  and  ever  will,  do  my  tutor  the 
justice  to  assert  that,  whenever  the  young  men  had  any  discourse 
of  the  government,  and  talked  disaffectedly,  or  disloyally,  he  never 
failed  to  rebuke  and  admonish  them  to  the  contrary,  telling  us 
expressly,  more  than  once,  that  it  was  none  of  our  business  to  cen- 
sure such  as  God  had  set  over  us  ;  that  small  miscarriages  ought 
not  to  be  magnified,  nor  severely  reflected  on,  there  never  having 
been  a  government  so  exact  or  perfect  but  what  had  some  of  those 
neavi  in  it.  He  also  cautioned  us  against  writing  lampoons  and 
scandalous  libels  concerning  our  superiors,  and  that,  not  only 
because  it  was  dangerous  so  to  do,  but  likewise  immoral." 

Considering  the  disgraceful  prosecutions  to  which  Mr  Morton 
had  been  subjecteil,  such  a  testimony  shows  him  to  have  been  a 
man  of  high  principle  and  honour ;  but  Mr  Morton,  perhaps,  was 
unable  to  prevent  less  honourable  ministers  having  access  to  the 
students  of  his  academy ;  or  of  his  students  having  access  to  them. 
Besides,  while  the  bulk  of  his  students  were  without  doubt  respect- 
able and  virtuous  young  men,  it  is  not  unfair  to  imagine  that,  as 
in  other  seminaries,  so  in  this,  there  might  be  bad  characters,  who 
would  try  to  infect  the  rest.  And,  in  addition  to  all  this,  while  we 
hesitate  in  accusing  young  Wesley  of  strictly  immoral  conduct,  we 
are  quite  prepared  to  think,  that  the  exuberance  of  spirit,  liveliness 
of  wit,  and  adventurous  heroism,  which  seem  to  be  characteristics  of 
the  Wesley  family,  would  often  hurry  him  into  improprieties,  which 
he  doubtless  lamented  in  after  life. 

Wesley  writes,  "that  some  of  the  gravest,  eldest,  and  most 
learned  of  Dissenting  ministers  encouraged  and  pushed  him  on  in 


AGE  18.]  SCHOOL  DAYS.  73 

his  silly  lampoons  both  on  Church  and  State ;"  that  they  "gave 
him  subjects,  and  furnished  him  with  matter;  that  they  tran- 
scribed, reviewed,  and  corrected  his  writings  before  they  were 
put  to  press ;  and  that  they  taught  him  to  equivocate,  by  telling 
him,  that,  when  he  was  charged  with  being  the  author  of  such 
publications,  he  might  deny  that  they  were  his,"  because  of  the . 
"  very  weighty  and  honest  reason  that  there  might  be  so^ne  literal 
mistakes  in  the  printing."  He  also  adds,  that  it  was  from  among 
the  most  famous  of  the  Dissenting  ministers  that  he  "  learned 
this  way  of  writing;"  "that  it  was  in  their  hands  he  first  saw  the 
lampoons  which  were  then  most  famous  against  the  Government ; 
and  that  he  had  often  heard  them  repeated  by  their  own  lips,  oaths 
and  all." 

These  are  weighty  charges  against  the  Dissenting  ministers  of 
that  period  ;  and  we  have  no  means  of  refuting  them.  Still,  while 
the  allegations  of  Samuel  Wesley,  in  the  main,  are  doubtless  true, 
it  is  only  common  charity  to  infer  that  these  hot-headed,  lampoon- 
ing ministers  were  exceptions  to  the  general  rule ;  and  it  is  only 
fair,  even  to  them,  to  remind  the  reader  that  the  Government  and 
the  age  against  whom  the  lampoons  were  written,  were  almost  as 
corrupt  and  vile  as  profligate  and  abandoned  wickedness  could 
make  them. 

After  all,  it  was  a  perilous  thing  for  a  young,  sprightly  fellow, 
like  Samuel  Wesley,  whose  father  and  grandfather  had,  by  the 
existing  Government,  been  ejected  from  their  livings,  reduced  to 
beggary,  and  hunted  to  a  premature  grave,  and  whose  mother,  in 
consequence  of  such  tyranny,  was  even  now  pining  in  some  obscure 
dwelling,  crushed  with  the  sorrows  of  a  too  early  widowhood,  and 
compelled  to  submit  to  the  humiliation  of  being,  to  some  extent, 
dependent  upon  the  charity  of  her  friends  ;  we  say,  it  was  a  perilous 
thing  for  such  a  young  man  to  be  brought  into  close  connexion 
with  such  political  parsons.  No  wonder  that  he  acknowledges 
that,  when  he  came  to  Mr  Morton's  school,  "  he  was  forward  enough 
to  write  lampoons  and  pasquils ; "  "  was  abundantly  zealous  in  the 
cause;''  "was  fired  with  hopes  of  suffering;"  "and  often  wished 
to  be  brought  before  kings  and  rulers,  because  he  thought  what  he 
did  was  done  for  the  sake  of  Christ." 

Such  were  the  ministerial  tempters  of  this  high-spirited  and 
exceedingly  clever  youth.  In  Morton's  academy,  there  were  about 
fifty  pupils,  many  of  whom  were  doubtless  as  headstrong  as  him- 


74  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l683. 

self,  and  at  least  two  of  whom  were  a  great  deal  worse  than  this, 
being  not  only  headstrong,  but  lewd  and  vicious.  Would  it  have 
been  surprising,  if,  under  such  circumstances,  Samuel  Wesley  had 
fallen  into  worse  errors  than  what  he  did  ?  and  is  it  not  owing  to 
the  prayers  of  his  dead  father,  the  training  of  his  widowed  mother, 
and  the  restraining  grace  of  God's  good  Spirit,  that,  in  after  Kfe,  he 
was  able  to  tell  his  enemies,  face  to  face,  without  fear  of  contra- 
diction, that,  though  he  was  not  an  "  exemplary  liver  "  while  at  Mr 
Morton's  academy,  he  was  not  a  "scandalous  one?"  He  admits 
that  he  was  too  keen  and  revengeful,  and  that  if  he  thought  a  per- 
son had  injured  him,  he  could  not  forgive  such  a  person,  without 
receiving  something  which  he  thought  to  be  satisfaction.  That 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  his  greatest  crimes ;  but  now  all  such 
revengeful  feeling  was  done  away ;  and  it  was  the  greatest  pleasure 
of  his  life  to  forgive  and  to  oblige  an  enemy. 

Before  quitting  the  "school  days"  of  Samuel  Wesley,  perhaps  it 
may  be  interesting  to  add,  that,  besides  himself,  several  of  his 
school-fellows  rose  to  great  eminence. 

For  instance,  there  was  Timothy  Cruso,  "  the  golden  preacher," 
as  he  was  called,  and  who  was  so  great  a  textuary,  says  Dunton, 
that  he  could  pray  two  hours  together  in  Scripture  language.  Also 
Obadiah  Marriott,  who  was  D  union's  uncle,  and  for  many  years 
officiated  as  minister  at  Chiswick,  and  at  Croydon. 

John  Shower  was  another  of  Morton's  pupils.  He  was  born  at 
Exeter,  and  was  educated,  first  in  his  native  city,  then  at  a  Dissent- 
ing academy  at  Taunton,  and  then  at  Newington  Green ;  was  en- 
couraged, by  Dr  Manton,  to  begin  preaching  before  he  was  twenty, 
and,  at  twenty-two,  was  ordained  assistant  to  Vincent  Alsop,  at 
Tothill  Fields ;  established  a  successful  lecture  against  Popery,  in 
Exchange  Alley ;  and,  some  years  afterwards,  went  abroad,  and 
became  lecturer  to  the  English  Church  at  Utrecht  and  Eotterdam. 
In  1690  he  became  assistant  to  the  great  John  Howe,  in  Silver 
Street,  London,  and  finally  settled  down  at  the  new  meeting-house, 
in  Old  Jewry,  where  he  continued  to  preach,  with  great  popularity, 
until  his  death  in  1715.  He  was  the  author  of — 1.  "  Serious  Ke- 
fiections  on  Time  and  Eternity."  2,  "  Practical  Eeflections  on  the 
great  Earthquakes  in  Jamaica  and  Italy,"  &c.  3.  "  Family  Reli- 
gion." 4.  "  The  Life  of  Henry  Gearing."  5.  "  Funeral  and  Sacra- 
mental Discourses."  6.  "  Winter  Meditations,"  &c.  &c.  &c.  He  was 
a  great  favourite  of  John  Dunton's,  who  describes  him  as  "  a 


AGE  21.]  SCHOOL  DAYS.  75 

popular  preacher,  with  a  small  shrill  voice,  and  noted  for  his 
funeral  sermons."  In  his  "  Dissenting  Doctors,"  Dunton  writes 
in  extravagant  and  doggerel  rhyme  :  — 

"  Shower — thy  name  and  nature  both  agree, 
For  both,  (yes  both,)  refreshing  showers  be — 
You  're  Chrysostom,  let  down  from  beams  on  high, 
You  preach  like  him,  charm  with  his  orat'ry : 
So  moving  are  your  sermons,  that,  'tis  clear. 
You've  brought  the  rhetoric  of  angels  here; 
So  pious  in  your  life,  meek  in  your  place, 
We  think  you  brought  up  in  the  schools  of  grace — 
Your  pulpit 's  fragrant,  for  you  preach  in  flowers, 
And  when  the  hearer  's  truly  blest,  it — Showers — 
Showers,  indeed  !  for  both  thy  tongue  and  pen, 
Have  often  made  our  graces  spring  again." 

Another  of  Wesley's  school-fellows  was  the  celebrated  Daniel 
Defoe — the  son  of  a  London  butcher,  and  born  the  year  before 
Wesley  was — the  master  of  five  languages,  and  a  diligent  student  of 
mathematics,  natural  philosophy,  geography,  history,  and  logic ;  a 
man  who  commenced  trade  as  a  horse-dealer ;  but  who  paid  less  at- 
tention to  trade  than  to  politics ;  and  hence,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
one,  was  bankrupt,  and  had  to  compound  with  his  creditors.  Trade 
failing,  Defoe  turned  author,  and  published  several  works,  which 
gained  him  the  confidence  of  King  William,  and  excited  great  at- 
tention. In  1703,  he  issued  his  publication  entitled,  "  The  Shortest 
Way  with  Dissenters,"  of  which  more  anon.  In  1704,  he  commenced 
the  Review,  a  periodical  which  extended  to  nine  quarto  volumes, 
and  which  pointed  the  way  to  the  Tatlers,  Spectators,  and  Guar- 
dians that  followed.  After  this,  he  was,  in  more  instances  than 
one,  employed  by  the  Government,  and  was  granted  a  Government 
pension.  By  his  Family  Instructor,  the  family  of  George  I.  were 
instructed ;  his  "  Robinson  Crusoe "  is  too  well  known  to  need 
description;  while  his  "Captain  Singleton,"  "Moll  Flanders," 
"  Eeligious  Courtship,"  "Cavalier,"  " Colonel  Jack,"  and  "Fortu- 
nate Mistress  ;"  his  "Journal  of  the  Plague,"  "Political  History 
of  the  Devil,"  and  "  New  Voyage  Round  the  World,"  if  not  read 
now,  used  to  be  read  by  admiring  myriads.  Defoe  was  a  marvel- 
lous man,  and  something  more  will  have  to  be  said  concerning  him. 
He  died  in  poverty,  four  years  before  Samuel  Wesley  died,  and  was 
buried  in  Bunhill  Fields,  in  1731. 

Space  forbids  any  further  mention  of  the  school-fellows  of  young 
Wesley  ;  and  we  can  only  add,  that,  notwithstanding  the  dangers 


76  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l683, 

to  which  he  was  exposed,  and  excepting  the  censurable  proceedings 
already  noticed,  he  left  London  with  an  unblemished  character, 
and  considerably  advanced  in  classical  learning,  by  the  instructions 
of  the  two  pious  and  eminent  men  who  acted  as  his  tutors.  He 
had  the  opportunity  of  attending  the  ministry  of  Stephen  Charnock, 
John  Bunyan,  and  many  other  of  the  most  popular  preachers  of  the 
day  ;  and,  before  he  went  to  Oxford,  had  taken  down  many  hundreds 
of  their  sermons.  Though  he  left  the  Dissenters,  it  would  be  folly 
to  deny  that  these  dissenting  sermons  greatly  enriched  his  mind, 
and  helped  to  mould  his  moral  character. 

[Besides  some  of  the  works  mentioned  at  the  close  of  Chapters  I  and  II.,  the 
following  have  contributed  to  the  contents  of  the  present  chapter,  viz.,  Clarke's 
Wesley  Family,  Dunton's  Life  and  Times,  Toulmin's  Life  of  Biddle,  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  the  Tracts  written  during  the  controversy  between  Wesley  and  Palmer 
in  1703-1707,  the  works  mentioned  in  the  course  of  the  chapter,  and  others.] 


CHAPTER  IV. 

UNIVERSITY  DAYS — 1683-1688. 

Samuel  Wesley  left  the  Dissenters  in  ]  683.  Why  ?  His  son,  the 
Rev.  John  Wesley,  shall  answer.     His  statement  is  as  follows : — 

"  Some  severe  invectives  being  written  against  the  Dissenters, 
Mr  S.  Wesley,  being  a  young  man  of  considerable  talents,  was 
pitched  upon  to  answer  them.  This  set  him  on  a  course  of  read- 
ing, which  soon  produced  an  effect  different  from  what  had  been 
intended.  Instead  of  writing  the  wished-for  answer,  he  himself 
conceived  he  saw  reason  to  change  his  opinions ;  and  actually 
formed  a  resolution  to  renounce  the  Dissenters,  and  attach  himself 
to  the  Established  Church.  He  lived  at  that  time  with  his  mother 
and  an  old  aunt,  both  of  whom  were  too  strongly  attached  to  the 
Dissenting  doctrines  to  have  borne,  with  any  patience,  the  disclosure 
of  his  design.  He  therefore  got  up  one  morning,  at  a  very  early 
hour,  and,  without  acquainting  any  one  with  his  purpose,  set  out 
on  foot  to  Oxford,  and  entered  himself  of  Exeter  College." 

Samuel  Wesley's  own  account  is,  in  substance,  the  following  : — 
While  he  was  a  student  in  the  Dissenting  academies  in  London, 
Dr  Owen  wished  him  and  some  others  to  graduate  at  the  univer- 
sities, on  the  ground  that  the  Dissenters  were  expecting  the  times 
to  change,  and  that  in  a  little  while  their  party  would  be  looked 
upon  with  greater  favour,  and  their  pupils  be  allowed  to  take 
university  degrees.  Owen,  however,  insisted  that  on  no  account 
whatever  ought  they  to  take  the  oaths  and  subscriptions. 

While  Wesley  was  still  in  doubt  whether  to  adopt  Dr  Owen's 
advice,  he  began  to  study  for  himself  the  usual  arguments  for 
separating  from  the  Church.  He  writes — "  I  earnestly  implored 
the  divine  direction  in  a  business  of  so  weighty  a  concern,  and  on 
which  so  much  of  my  whole  life  depended.  I  examined  things  over 
and  over,  as  calmly  and  impassionately  as  possible  ;  and  the  farther 


78  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l683. 

I  looked,  still  the  more  the  mist  cleared  up,  and  things  appeared 
in  another  sort  of  light  than  I  had  seen  them  in  all  my  life  before. 
So  far  were  the  sufferings  of  the  Dissenters  at  that  time  from 
influencing  my  resolution  to  leave  them,  that,  I  profess,  it  was  a 
thing  which  retarded  me  most  of  any.  The  ungenerosity  of  quit- 
ting them  in  their  meaner  fortunes,  when  I  had  been  a  sharer  in 
their  better,  I  knew  not  how  to  get  over.  Still,  I  began  to  have 
some  inclinations  to  the  University,  if  I  knew  how  to  get  thither, 
or  to  live  there  when  I  came  ;  but  then  I  was  not  acquainted  with 
one  soul  of  the  Church  of  England,  or,  at  least,  with  none  to  whom 
I  might  address  myself  for  assistance  or  advice. 

"  1  was  now  offered  em^jloyment  among  the  Dissenters,  (having 
been  with  them  nearly  four  years,)  either  in  a  gentleman's  house, 
or  as  chaplain  to  an  East  Indian  ship  ;  but  my  inclinations  were 
more  for  Oxford,  where,  I  thought,  I  might  have  opportunities 
more  fully  to  study  the  point  which  I  was  now  almost  resolved 
upon. 

"  Still  there  were  some  rubs  lay  in  my  way  thither,  which  our 
people  generally  urged  to  prevent  us  from  such  intentions,  I  was 
told  (1 .)  that  the  Universities  were  so  scandalously  debauched  that 
there  was  no  breathing  for  a  sober  man  in  them  ;  (2.)  that  the 
Church  of  England,  so  far  from  encouraging  Dissenters  to  close 
with  her  communion,  generally  frowned  on  those  who  did  so,  and 
never  loved  nor  trusted  them  ;  and  (3.)  that  the  nation  was  so 
unanimously  against  the  Church  of  England,  that  the  bishops  and 
hierarchy  would  certainly  have  a  speedy  fall ;  and  even  rats  and 
mice  were  wise  enough  to  quit  a  tumbling  house,  and  not  to  run 
into  it." 

In  reference  to  the  first  of  these  objections,  he  says — "  I  resolved 
not  to  believe  a  word  about  Oxford  debauchery  till  I  saw  it,  for 
which  now  a  very  happy  opportunity  offered.  Dr  Owen  having 
died,  the  trustees  of  the  £10  exhibition*  requested  me  to  enter  the 
university  with  all  speed.  To  this  end  I  went  to  Oxford,  and 
stayed  there  some  time.  I  found  many  sober  and  religious  men, 
as  well  as  some  Rakehells  ;  and  discoursed  several  points  on  which 
I  still  hesitated  a  little,  and  received  satisfaction  on  them." 

He  adds,  that  having  been  so  long  with  the  Dissenters,  he  still 
thought,  even  after  he  went  to  Oxford,  that  Episcopacy  would 

*  The  £10  exhibition  was  one  of  upwards  of  twenty  more,  left  by  Dr  G.  for 
the  benefit  of  young  scholars  designed  to  be  ministers. 


AGE  21.]  UNIVERSITY  DAYS.  79 

be  abolished ;  and  not  being  willing  to  be  over  hasty,  he  re- 
turned to  London  to  give  the  subject  further  consideration.  Soon 
after  his  return,  he  had  £20  given  him, — part  of  a  considerable 
some  of  money,  left  by  a  Dissenter,  to  be  distributed  among 
ministers.  With  this  he  paid  his  debts,  as  far  as  it  would  go, 
and  then  resolved  for  Oxford  as  soon  as  possible, — whither  accord- 
ingly he  went,  in  the  name  of  God,  and  entered  himself  there,  the 
day  in  August  1683,  a  servitor  of  Exeter  College. 

When  he  had  been  some  months  at  college,  and  after  several 
letters  had  passed  between  them,  he  was  "  followed  by  a  young 
gentleman,  one  of  his  fellow-pupils  at  his  first  tutor's,  who  was 
now  a  Fellow  of  Exeter  College,  and  ordained  a  priest."* 

This  is  all  that  is  known  of  the  reasons  that  induced  Samuel 
Wesley  to  leave  the  Church  of  his  fathers,  except  another  little 
incident  mentioned  by  himself.  He  writes — "  A  reverend  and 
worthy  person,  my  relation,  who  lived  at  a  great  distance,  coming 
to  London,  was  so  kind  as  to  see  me  while  I  was  at  Mr  Morton's, 
and  gave  me  such  arguments  against  the  Dissenting  schism,  which 
I  was  then  embarked  with,  as  added  weight  to  my  resolutions, 
when  I  began  to  think  of  leaving  it." 

The  above  account  differs  from  the  accounts  which  previous 
biographers  have  published ;  but,  being  taken  from  Mr  Wesley's 
own  writings,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its  correctness. 

When  Samuel  Wesley  set  out  for  Oxford,  all  that  he  possessed 
was  forty-five  shillings.  By  leaving  the  Dissenters,  he  had  for- 
feited the  friendship  of  all  the  friends  he  had.  His  mother  was  a 
poor  forlorn  widow,  utterly  unable  to  afford  him  help ;  and  yet, 
this  well-nigh  penniless  young  man  resolves  to  obtain  for  himself 
a  university  education  and  university  degrees.  He  was  nearly 
five  years  at  college  ;  and  yet,  five  shillings  was  all  the  assistance 
which,  during  that  period,  he  received  from  his  family  and  friends. 
To  ride  to  college  was  a  thing  not  to  be  thought  about.  To  use 
his  own  expression,  he  "footed  it!'  His  books,  his  clothes,  and 
his  other  luggage,  were  all  probably  carried  in  a  knapsack  on  his 
back.  Thus  the  young  student  entered  Oxford,  friendless  and 
well-nigh  moneyless,  in  ]  683 ;  and,  five  years  after,  he  left  it,  not 
dishonoured,  but  with  B.A.  attached  to  his  subsequently  distin- 
guished name, — having  managed  to  support  himself,  and  to  pay 
his  fees,  by  his  own  endeavours,  and  to  bring  away  with  him  a 
*  S.  Wesley's  Letter  from  a  Country  Divine.     Third  edit.     1706. 


80  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l683. 

purse  more  than  four  times  heavier  than  the  purse  he  took.  He 
started  with  forty-five  shillings :  he  left  with  two  hundred  and 
fifteen.     How  was  this  accomplished  ?     We  shall  shortly  see. 

The  following  description  of  Exeter  College  is  taken  from  "  A 
Pocket  Companion  for  Oxford,"  published  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century : — The  front  of  Exeter  College  is  220  feet  long, 
in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  magnificent  gate,  with  a  tower  over  it. 
The  building  within  chiefly  consists  of  a  large  quadrangle,  formed 
by  the  hall,  the  chapel,  the  rector's  lodgings,  and  the  chambers  of 
the  students.  The  gardens  are  neatly  disposed,  and,  though  within 
the  town,  have  an  airy  and  pleasant  opening  to  the  east.  The 
library  is  well  furnished  with  books  in  the  several  arts  and  sciences, 
and  with  a  very  valuable  collection  of  the  classics,  given  by  Edward 
Richards,  Esq.  It  also  contains  a  large  orrery,  the  gift  of  Thomas 
Blackall,  Esq.  The  hall  was  built  by  Sir  John  Ackland,  and  the 
chapel  by  Dr  Hakewell.  Hakewell  was  a  man  of  eminence. 
Having  been  appointed  chaplain  to  Prince  Charles,  he  deemed  it 
his  duty  to  attempt  to  convince  his  royal  pupil  that  he  would  act 
wisely  in  abandoning  his  contemplated  marriage  with  the  Infanta 
of  Spain.  This  so  enraged  Charles's  father,  that  he  ordered  Hake- 
well to  be  arrested  and  imprisoned.  Under  the  reign  of  Charles, 
however,  he  was  promoted  to  the  bishopric  of  Worcester,  and  was 
elected  Rector  of  Exeter  College.  When  the  civil  wars  commenced, 
he  submitted  to  the  authority  of  Parliament,  and  retained  his  ofl[ice 
as  rector  of  the  college  till  his  death,  in  1649.  His  chief  work  is 
a  folio  volume,  on  the  "  Power  and  Providence  of  God." 

The  founder  of  Exeter  College  was  Walter  Stapleton,  Bishop  of 
Exeter,  Lord  Treasurer  of  England,  and  Secretary  of  State  to  King 
Edward  II.,  1316.  He  founded  a  society  of  thirteen — that  is,  a 
rector  and  twelve  fellows — one  of  whom,  the  chaplain,  was  to  be 
appointed  by  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Exeter ;  eight  were  to  be 
elected  out  of  the  archdeaconries  of  Exeter,  Totnes,  and  Barnstaple ; 
and  four  out  of  the  archdeaconry  of  Cornwall.  Among  the  sub- 
sequent benefactors  of  Exeter  College  was  Edmund  Stafford,  Bishop 
of  Exeter,  who  settled  two  fellowships  for  the  diocese  of  Sarum. 
Sir  William  Petre  obtained  a  new  charter  and  new  statutes,  and 
founded  eight  additional  fellowships.  Charles  I.  added  one  for 
Jersey  and  Guernsey ;  and  Mrs  Shiers  added  two  more  for  Hert- 
ford and  Surrey.  The  number  of  students  was  about  eighty,  and 
the  visitor  was  the  Bishop  of  Exeter. 


AGE  21.]  UNIVERSITY  DAYS.  81 

Samuel  Wesley  entered  this  college  as  a  servitor.  A  "servitor" 
means  a  scholar  or  student,  who  attends  and  waits  on  another 
scholar  or  student,  and  receives,  as  a  compensation,  his  maintenance. 
Such  was  the  position  of  young  Wesley.  There  was  no  help  for  it. 
He  was  determined  to  secure  the  benefits  of  a  university  education ; 
and,  in  the  absence  of  money  and  of  friends,  he  became  a  servant 
to  some  other  scholar  in  order  to  find  himself  bread.  There  was 
no  disgrace  in  this ;  and  yet,  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  that 
such  a  "  servitor,"  notwithstanding  his  cleverness,  would  be  sub- 
jected to  taunts  from  beardless  youths,  who,  in  all  respects  excepting 
one,  were  vastly  his  inferiors.  Here  was  a  young  man,  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  respectably  connected,  highly  educated,  but  well-nigh 
as  poor  as  poverty  could  make  him,  resolved  upon  the  acquisition 
of  academic  fame ;  and,  in  the  struggle,  battling  with  his  innate 
pride,  and  patiently,  if  not  cheerfully,  submitting  to  annoyances 
for  the  sake  of  obtaining  that  upon  which  his  heart  was  set. 
Difficulties,  which  would  have  discouraged  others,  aroused  him; 
and  he  resolved  to  conquer  or  to  die. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  a  servitor;  and  he  was  also  entered  as 
pauper  scholaris,  which  was  the  lowest  of  the  four  conditions  of 
members  of  the  Exeter  College.  He  began  as  low  as  he  could 
begin  ;  but  struggling  with  discouragements  increased  his  strength 
instead  of  lessening  it.  He  rose  superior  to  his  obstacles.  Be- 
sides attending  to  the  humiliating  duties  of  a  servitor,  he  composed 
exercises  for  those  who  had  more  money  than  mind,  and  gave  in- 
structions to  those  who  wished  to  profit  by  his  lessons  ;  and  thus, 
by  unwearied  toil  and  great  frugality,  the  poor,  fatherless,  and 
friendless  scholar,  not  only  managed  to  support  himself,  but  when 
he  retired  from  Oxford  in  1688,  he  was  seven  pounds  fifteen 
shillings  richer  than  he  was  when  he  first  entered  it  in  1683,  Who 
can  tell  his  struggles  during  the  five  years  of  privation  spent  at 
this  great  seat  of  learning  ?  His  servitorial  services  might  obtain 
him  bread ;  but  what  about  the  payment  of  his  fees,  the  purchase 
of  his  clothes,  and  the  procuring  of  fire  ?  The  first  winter  of  his 
residence  at  Oxford,  was  one  of  the  severest  recorded  in  the  annals 
of  English  history.  Calamy  tells  us  that  "  the  Thames  was  frozen 
over,  and  the  ice  so  firm  and  strong,  that  there  were  hundreds  of 
booths  and  shops  upon  it.  Coaches  plied  as  freely  from  the 
Temple  Stairs  to  Westminster,  as  if  they  had  gone  upon  the  land. 
All  sorts  of  diversions  were  practised  on  the  congealed  waters,  and 

F 


82  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l685. 

even  an  ox  was  roasted  whole  on  the  river,  over  against  Whitehall." 
Such  was  the  bitter  commencement  of  Samuel  Wesley's  collegiate 
life ;  and,  at  the  most,  he  only  had  about  two  pounds,  in  his  al- 
most needless  purse,  to  meet  it. 

"  Necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention."  It  was  this,  probably, 
that  induced  Samuel  Wesley  to  publish  his  first  work  in  1685. 
Whilst  he  was  at  Mr  Veal's  and  Mr  Morton's  academies,  he  wrote 
a  number  of  boyish  rhymes,  several  of  which  were  recited  from 
the  platforms  of  those  academies,  and  gained  applause  from  the 
tutors  and  pupils  present.  Other  poetical  pieces  of  a  similar  de- 
scription were  written  after  he  went  to  Oxford  ;  and  the  whole, 
during  the  second  year  of  his  residence,  were  published  under  the 
title  of  "  Maggots ;  or  Poems  on  several  subjects  never  before 
handled,  by  a  Scholar,  London.  Printed  for  John  Dunton,  at  the 
sign  of  the  Black  Raven,  near  the  Royal  Exchange,  ]  685." 

This  book  will  neither  instruct  the  reader,  nor  contribute  to  the 
author's  literary  fame  ;  and  yet,  because  it  was  the  first  book  pub- 
lished by  an  eminent  literary  man ;  and  because  it  is  now  so  ex- 
tremely scarce,  that  hardly  one  Wesleyan  student  in  a  thousand 
has  ever  seen  it,  a  brief  description  of  it  may  be  interesting,  if 
not  useful. 

The  book  begins  with  an  anonymous  portrait  of  the  author, 
crowned  with  laurel,  and  having  a  Maggot  seated  on  his  brow. 
Beneath  the  portrait  are  the  following  lines : — 

"  In  his  own  defence  the  author  writes, 
Because  when  this  foui  maggot  bites, 

He  ne'er  can  rest  in  quiet : 
Which  makes  him  make  so  sad  a  face. 
He'd  beg  your  worship,  or  your  grace, 

Unsight,  unseen,  to  buy  it." 

The    book  consists   of    172  pages ;    and  is  dedicated    "  To   the 

honoured  Mr  H.  D ,  Head  Master  of  the  Free  School  in  D , 

in  the   county  of   D ."     "  Mr  H.   D "    was  Mr  Henry 

Dolling,  who  was  Samuel  Wesley's  schoolmaster  at  Dorchester. 
In  the  dedication,  he  informs  us  that  this  book  is  his  "  first 
formed  birth,"  and,  in  his  epistle  to  the  reader,  he  says  that  "  all 
the  Maggots  are  the  natural  issue  of  his  own  brain  pan,  born  and 
bred  there,  and  only  there."  In  reply  to  the  objection,  that  the 
work  is  "  light,  vain,  frothy,  and  below  the  gravity  of  a  man,  at 
least  of  a  Christian,"  he  says,  if  the  objector  will  lend  him  a  hand- 


AGE  23.]  UNIVEESITY  DAYS.  83 

ful  of  beard,  and  be  at  the  charge  of  grafting  it  on,  he  will  promise 
a  speedy  and  thorough  reformation.  Besides,  he  argues,  that  time 
ought  to  be  allowed  for  recreation  as  well  as  work ;  and,  more- 
over, he  hopes  that  he  has  written  nothing  to  make  even  himself 
or  his  reader  blush.  He  was  never  vain  enough  to  think  that  his 
"  Maggots  "  would  procure  him  much  reputation  ;  neither  was  he 
ambitious  of  seeing  his  worthy  name  glittering  in  a  Term  Catalogue ; 
and  therefore  he  thought  it  not  worth  his  while  to  throw  away 
better  time  in  making  his  book  more  perfect.* 

Many  of  the  poems  flash  with  wit,  and  are  most  pleasantly  ex- 
pressed. Sometimes  there  is  a  want  of  delicacy  ;  but  that,  per- 
haps, is  not  so  much  the  fault  of  the  man,  as  of  the  age  in  which 
be  wrote.  Southey  says,  "  His  imagination  seems  to  have  been 
playful  and  diffuse  ;  and  had  he  written  during  his  son's  celebrity, 
some  of  his  pi,eces  might  perhaps  have  been  condemned  by  the 
godly  as  profane."  Dr  A.  Clarke  demurs  to  this,  and  not  with- 
out reason.  There  are  in  the  "Maggots  "  what  the  present  refined 
age  would  call  indelicate  and  coarse  expressions ;  but,  in  this 
respect,  Samuel  Wesley  was  only  imitating  Dryden  and  the 
standard  writers  of  the  period  in  which  he  lived. 

Several  of  the  poems  are  levelled  against  the  vices  of  the  day, 
and  are  scorchingly  severe  ;  but  it  would  scarcely  answer  any  good 
purpose  to  reproduce  them. 

We  merely  give  one  extract,  taken  from  the  piece  on  "  the 
Tobacco  Pipe,"  and  which  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  entire  book. 
Perhaps,  also,  it  indicates  that  he  had  already  fallen  into  the  un- 
fortunate habit  of  smoking,  which  will  have  to  be  noticed  in  due 
time : — 

"  In  these  raw  mornings,  when  I'm  freezing  ripe, 
What  can  compare  with  a  tobacco  pipe  ? 
Primed,  cock'd,  and  touch't,  'twould  better  heat  a  man 
Than  ten  Bath  faggots,  or  Scotch  warming  pan. 
For  the  toothache  'tis  a  specific  aid, 
For  every  amorous  boy,  or  lovesick  maid. 
Sometimes  another  way  to  work  'twill  go, 
Up  spouts  a  deluge  from  the  abyss  below ; — 
This  physic  is  more  safe,  (though  not  so  fine,) 
Than  bumpers  crown'd  too  oft  with  sparkling  wine. 
A  glass  is  not  a  better  cure  than  that. 
For  care,  or  toothache,  both  of  which  would  kill  a  cat. 

*  For  the  titles  of  the  poems,  see  Appendix  A. 


84  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  "WESLEY.  [l685. 

Surely  when  Prometheus  climb'd  above  the  poles, 

Slyly  to  learn  their  art  of  making  souls, 

When  of  his  fire  he  fretting  Jove  did  wipe, 

He  stole  it  thence  in  a  tobacco  pipe; 

Which,  predisposed  to  live,  as  down  he  ran. 

By  the  soul's  plastic  power,  from  clay  was  turn'd  to  man." 

In  the  "  Dunciad  "  *  of  Alexander  Pope,  there  is  a  line  which 
seems  to  refer  to  Samuel  Wesley's  "  Maggots."  The  reference  is 
not  clear  and  undeniable  ;  but  still  it  has  an  air  of  probability.  In 
his  first  book,  line  53,  Pope  writes  : — 

"  Here  she  beholds  the  chaos  dark  and  deep, 
Where  nameless  somethings  in  their  causes  sleep, 
'Till  genial  Jacob,  or  a  warm  third  day 
Call  forth  each  mass,  a  poem  or  a  play. 
How  hints,  like  spawn,  scarce  quick  in  embryo  lie  ! 
How  new-born  nonsense  first  is  taught  to  cry  ! 
Maggots  half  form'd,  in  rhyme,  exactly  meet, 
And  learn  to  crawl  upon  poetic  feet  ! 
Here  one  poor  word  a  hundred  clenches  makes, 
And  ductile  dulness  new  meanders  takes ; 
There  motley  images  her  fancy  strike, 
Figures  ill-pair'd,  and  similes  imlike." 

This  first  book  of  Samuel  Wesley's  was  published  by  the 
eccentric  John  Dunton,  who  was  born  three  years  before  Wesley, 
and  therefore  was  now  a  young  publisher,  of  not  more  than 
twenty-six  years  of  age.  His  father  was  a  clergyman,  and  he  was 
intended  for  the  same  profession ;  but,  being  found  too  volatile, 
he  was  apprenticed  to  Thomas  Parkhurst,  the  most  eminent  Pres- 
byterian bookseller  in  the  three  kingdoms.  Wesley  was  acquainted 
with  Dunton  before  he  went  to  Oxford.  A  year  previous  to  his 
removal  thither,  he  was  present  at  Dunton's  wedding,  and  presented 
to  the  happy  couple  an  epithalamium.  The  object  of  Dunton's 
choice  was  Elizabeth,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Dr  Samuel  Annesley, 
and  sister  of  her  who  six  years  afterwards  became  the  wife  of  Wes- 
ley. Dunton  commenced  business  near  the  Eoyal  Exchange,  His 
affairs  prospered  for  the  first  three  years,  until  the  stagnation  cast 
upon  trade  by  the  defeat  of  Monmouth  in  the  west.  In  the  same 
year  that  he  published  Wesley's  "  Maggots,"  he  sustained  some 
serious  losses,  and  went  to  America  to  repair  his  fortune.  Twelve 
months  afterwards,  he  came  back  to  his  wife  and  to  her  father ; 
but,  on  account  of  his  pecuniary  embarrassments,  he  was,  for  nearly 

*  Edition  1729. 


AGE  23.]  UNIVERSITY  DAYS.  85 

a  year,  a  sort  of  domestic  prisoner,  and,  to  avoid  arrest,  durst  not 
cross  the  threshold  of  the  house  in  which  he  lived.  The  only 
time,  in  the  course  of  ten  months,  that  he  ventured  to  go  out  of 
doors,  was  on  a  Sunday  to  hear  Dr  Annesley,  his  father-in-law, 
preach.  To  prevent  detection,  he  shaved  off  his  beard,  and  put 
on  a  woman's  clothes.  He  got  safe  to  the  meeting-house,  and  sat 
down  in  the  obscurest  corner  he  could  find.  He  was  returning 
home,  through  Bishopsgate  Street,  with  all  the  circumspection  and 
care  imaginable,  when  an  unlucky  rogue  cried  out,  "  I'll  be  hanged 
if  that  be  not  a  man  in  woman's  clothes ! "  Away  Dunton  ran  as 
fast  as  his  legs  could  carry  him  ;  a  mob  of  twenty  or  thirty  per- 
sons ran  after  him ;  but  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  alleys  in 
that  part  of  the  city,  enabled  him  to  dodge  and  get  rid  of  bis 
pursuers,  and,  in  great  trepidation  he  reached  his  house  without 
arrest.*  Dunton  became  wearied  with  this  confinement,  and  made 
a  trip  to  Holland,  Flanders,  and  Germany,  and  returned  to  Lon- 
don in  1688.  On  the  same  day  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  entered 
the  capital,  Dunton  re-opened  his  place  of  business.  Here  he 
printed  six  hundred  books,  and  says,  there  were  only  seven  of  them 
which  occasioned  him  repentance.  In  1692  he  became  possessed 
of  a  considerable  estate,  by  the  decease  of  a  cousin,  and  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  Company  of  Stationers.  At  the  age  of  thirty- 
eight  he  was  bereaved  of  his  first  wife,  whose  decease  he  bitterly 
lamented;  but,  before  the  year  was  out,  consoled  himself  by 
another  marriage  with  Sarah,  daughter  of  Mrs  Nicholas  of  St 
Albans.  This  lady  added  neither  to  his  comfort  nor  his  fortune. 
He  left  her  soon  after  they  were  married,  and  became  financially 
embarrassed  to  the  end  of  life.  He  died  in  obscurity  two  years 
before  Samuel  Wesley,  in  1733,  aged  seventy-four. 

Dunton  was  a  strange  mortal ;  a  man  half  mad,  and  yet  pos- 
sessed of  genius,  and  a  dabbler  in  all  sorts  of  books.  In  1710  he 
produced  his  "  Athenianism  ;  or.  New  Projects,"  in  which  he 
actually  announced  his  intention  to  publish  six  hundred  distinct 
treatises,  all  written  by  himself.  He  was  far  too  wild  and 
whimsical  to  be  prosperous. 

His  description   of  himself  is  amusingly  characteristic.     He 

says,  he  was  of  middle  stature  ;  his  hair  black  and  curled  ;  his  eyes 

quick  and  full  of  spirit ;  his  lips  red  and  soft ;  his  face,  though 

not  so  beautiful  as  some,  yet  rendered  amiable  by  a  cheerful, 

*  Duntou's  Life  and  Errors. 


86  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l68"5. 

sprightly  air ;  his  body  slender  and  well  proportioned ;  and  his 
spirit  pious  and  devout.  He  was  plentiful  in  wit ;  his  way  of 
writing  excellent ;  he  had  great  skill  in  poetry ;  his  temper  was 
sweet ;  and  he  was  the  most  passionate  and  constant  lover  living. 
His  friendship  was  courted  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  hard 
to  be  displeased ;  and,  when  offended,  was  easy  to  be  reconciled. 
His  soul  was  tender  and  compassionate ;  and  his  modesty  more 
than  usually  great. 

In  completing  this  modest  portraiture  of  himself,  Dunton  adds, 
"  To  finish  this  imperfect  description,  I  must  sincerely  say,  I  have 
all  those  good  qualities  that  are  necessary  to  render  me  an  accom- 
plished gentleman." 

Such  was  John  Dunton,  the  publisher  of  Samuel  Wesley's  first 
literary  production.  Dunton  says,  "  The  rector  of  Epworth  got 
his  bread  by  the  '  Maggots  ; '  "  but  Dunton,  when  he  wrote  that, 
had  imbibed  an  implacable  hatred  towards  Wesley,  and  what  he 
says  must  be  received  with  caution.  No  doubt  the  college 
finances  of  young  Wesley  were  extremely  low,  and,  perhaps,  in 
publishing  his  "  Maggots,"  he  had  some  hope  of  raising  them ; 
but  it  is  scarce  likely  that  the  poor  scholar  would  gain  much  by 
his  adventure,  inasmuch  as,  from  the  size  of  his  book,  the  pub- 
lishing price  did  not  probably  exceed  a  shilling. 

Samuel  Wesley's  time  at  the  university  was  well  occupied. 
First  of  all,  he  had  to  attend  to  his  duties  as  servitor,  for  on  that, 
to  some  extent,  his  mamtenance  depended.  Then,  to  obtain 
money  for  the  payment  of  his  fees,  he  gave  assistance  to  other 
students  not  so  far  advanced,  nor  so  willing  to  submit  to  hard 
work  as  he  was.  Then  he  had  to  prepare  for  his  own  examina- 
tions, on  the  result  of  which  depended  his  obtaining  a  university 
degree ;  and  this  he  did  so  successfully,  that  on  the  19th  of  June 
1688,  he  was  created  Bachelor  of  Arts  ;  the  only  student  of  Exeter 
College  that,  during  that  year,  obtained  such  a  distinction.* 

Such  labours  were  onerous ;  but,  whilst  his  time  must  have 
been  greatly  occupied  with  his  daily  duties,  his  benevolent  heart 
would  not  permit  him  to  live  wholly  to  himself.  He  was  not 
only  ambitious  to  raise  himself,  but  he  likewise  yearned  to  benefit 
others ;  and,  it  is  a  remarkable  coincidence,  that  the  objects  of 
his  sympathy  were  exactly  of  the  same  class  as  those  who,  forty- 
five  years  afterwards,  were  visited  and  helped  by  his  sons,  John 

*  Anthony  Wood. 


AGE  23.]  UNIVEKSITY  DAYS.  87 

and  Charles,  and  the  other  Oxford  Methodists.  Notwithstanding 
the  weightiness  of  his  college  work,  and  the  lightness  of  his  college 
purse,  he  found  time  to  visit  the  poor  wretched  inmates  of  Oxford 
Gaol,  and  gladly  relieved  them  as  far  as  he  was  able.  Writing  to 
his  two  sons,  in  1730,  when  they  had  begun,  of  their  own  accord, 
to  visit  the  same  prison  house,  he  says  : — "  Go  on,  in  God's  name, 
in  the  path  to  which  your  Saviour  has  directed  you,  and  that 
track  wherein  your  father  has  gone  before  you !  !For  when  I  was 
an  undergraduate  at  Oxford  I  visited  those  in  the  castle  there,  and 
reflect  on  it  with  great  satisfaction  to  this  day.  Walk  as  pru- 
dently as  you  can,  though  not  fearfully,  and  my  heart  and  prayers 
are  with  you."* 

When  Samuel  Wesley  had  spent  about  eighteen  months  at  the 
university  King  Charles  II.  died,  and  James  II.  succeeded  him. 
A  few  months  afterwards,  Oxford  was  honoured  with  a  visit  from 
this  papistical  monarch,  and  an  event  happened  which  exercised 
an  important  influence  on  Wesley's  subsequent  career.  One  of 
the  historians  of  Methodism  has  said,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that, 
though  Samuel  Wesley  had  "the  piety  and  persecutions  of  his 
father  and  grandfather  in  his  memory,  and  though  the  condition 
and  tendencies  of  the  court  were  open  to  his  inspection,  he  was 
very  much  attached  to  the  interests  of  King  James." 

This  statement  rests  entirely  on  the  testimony  of  Dr  A.  Clarke, 
who  says,  "  His  son  John  has  been  heard  to  state  that  at  first  his 
father  was  very  much  attached  to  the  interests  of  James."  It  is 
deferentially  submitted  whether  this  is  strictly  true.  It  is  scarce 
likely  that  a  young  man  of  intelligence,  scholarship,  and  honour, 
like  Samuel  Wesley;  a  young  man  whose  father  and  grandfather 
had  been  ejected  from  their  churches,  and  hunted  to  their  graves 
by  the  myrmidons  of  Stuart  perfidy;  and  a  young  man,  whose 
entire  life  had  been  spent  in  the  society  and  schools  of  those  who 
hated,  and  had  just  cause  to  hate,  the  Stuart  dynasty;  we  say  it  is 
scarce  likely  that  such  a  young  man  would  feel  either  much  attach- 
ment, or  any  attachment  at  all,  to  a  despotic  and  royal  traitor  like 
the  one  just  mentioned.  But,  be  that  as  it  may,  the  occurrence 
which  happened  at  Oxford,  and  which  is  about  to  be  related,  exer- 
cised an  important  influence  on  Samuel  Wesley's  subsequent  be- 
haviour. 

Almost  immediately  after  James's  accession,  in  1685,  he  ob- 

*  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  i.,  p.  7. 


88  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l687. 

tained  the  appointment  of  one  Massey,  a  Papist,  as  Dean  of  Christ 
Church,  Oxford.  He  likewise  secured  for  Obadiah  Walker,  master 
of  University  College,  a  concealed  Papist,  a  licence  for  publishing 
popish  books, — a  licence  of  which  Walker  had  the  courage  to 
avail  himself,  for  he  immediately  established  in  his  college  both  a 
printing  press  and  a  popish  chapel.  All  this  naturally  created 
great  excitement.  Soon  after,  in  January  1687,  the  noble  family 
of  Petre  (of  whom  Father  Edward  Petre  was  one)  claimed  the 
right  of  nomination  to  seven  fellowships  in  Exeter  College,  in 
which  Samuel  Wesley  was  a  student.  It  was  acknowledged  on 
the  part  of  the  college  that  Sir  William  Petre,  who  had  founded 
the  fellowships,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  likewise  his  son, 
had  both  exercised  the  power  of  nomination,  though  the  latter,  as 
they  contended,  had  nominated  only  by  sufferance.  The  Bishop 
of  Exeter,  the  visitor  of  the  college,  had,  in  the  reign  of  James  I., 
pronounced  an  opinion  against  the  founder's  descendants,  and  a 
judgment  had  been  obtained  against  them  in  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas.  Under  the  sanction  of  these  authorities,  the  college  had, 
for  seventy  years,  nominated  to  these  fellowships  without  disturb- 
ance from  the  family  of  Petre.  Alibone,  the  popish  lawyer,  con- 
tended that  this  long  usage,  which  would  otherwise  have  been 
conclusive,  deserved  little  consideration  in  a  period  of  such  ini- 
quity towards  Catholics,  who  had  been  deterred  from  asserting 
their  civil  rights.  King  James  took  up  the  matter,  and  demanded 
from  the  university  that  they  should  acknowledge  a  right  in 
Father  Petre  to  name  seven  fellows  of  Exeter  College.  This  the 
university  most  firmly  resisted,  and  the  question  was  referred  to 
the  Courts  of  Westminster.  All  this  added  fuel  to  the  fire  already 
kindled. 

But  James's  illegal  and  arbitrary  conduct  proceeded  still  fur- 
ther. He  commanded  the  Fellows  of  Magdalen  College  to  elect, 
as  their  Master,  one  Antony  Farmer,  another  concealed  Papist. 
The  Fellows  petitioned  his  Majesty,  but  finding  him  not  to  be 
moved,  they  exercised  their  own  undoubted  right,  and  elected 
Br  Howe.  A  new  mandate  was  issued  to  the  college  to  elect 
Parker,  Bishop  of  Oxford.  This  man  had  been  a  zealous  Puritan 
preacher  under  the  Commonwealth,  a  bigoted  High  Churchman  at 
the  Restoration,  and  was  now  a  papistical  prelate,  through  his 
popish  servility  to  James  II.  He  died  a  few  months  after,  as 
destitute  of  virtue  as  of  judgment — a  drunkard  and  a  miser — 


AGE  25.]  UNIVERSITY  DAYS.  89 

unlamented  and  even  despised  by  all  good  men.  The  Fellows  of 
Magdalen  College  refused  to  accept  of  James's  nominee,  and, 
with  commendable  spirit,  stuck  to  the  Master  of  their  own  choos- 
ing. James  was  inexpressibly  annoyed  ;  and,  in  the  course  of  the 
summer  of  1687,  arrived  at  Oxford.  The  unmanageable  Fellows 
of  Magdalen  were  summoned  into  the  royal  presence,  and  were 
chid  for  their  disobedience.  Samuel  Wesley  was  present,  and  was 
an  intensely  interested  spectator  of  the  disreputable  scene.  "  You 
have  not  dealt  with  me  like  gentlemen  !"  cried  the  weakly,  arro- 
gant, and  furious  king ;  "  you  have  been  unmannerly  as  well  as 
undutiful.  Is  this  your  Church  of  England  loyalty  ?  I  could  not 
have  believed  that  so  many  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England 
would  have  been  concerned  in  such  a  business.  Go  home ! — get 
you  gone  !  I  am  king  !  I  will  be  obeyed  I  Go  to  your  chapel 
this  instant,  and  admit  the  Bishop  of  Oxford.  Let  those  Avho 
refuse  look  to  it ;  they  shall  feel  the  whole  weight  of  my  hand ; 
they  shall  know  what  it  is  to  incur  the  displeasure  of  their 
sovereign !" 

Here  was  a  call  for  passive  obedience  from  the  very  lips  of  the 
Lord's  anointed,  but  still  the  Fellows  were  uncowed ;  and  answer- 
ing the  royal  tyrant  respectfully  but  firmly,  they  insisted  on  their 
right.  They  were  then  privately  warned  that  they  would  be  pro- 
ceeded against  by  quo  warranto,  and  inevitably  loose  everything. 
But  still  the  gownsmen  were  firm.  The  king  was  astonished  and 
enraged,  and  issued  a  commission  to  examine  the  state  of  the 
college,  with  full  power  to  alter  the  statutes  and  frame  new  ones. 
The  chief  of  this  Commission  was  Cartwright,  Bishop  of  Chester, 
who,  like  Parker,  had  been  a  Puritan  in  the  days  of  Cromwell, 
then  a  flaming  Churchman  under  Charles,  and  was  now  a  drunken 
tool  in  the  hands  of  James.  The  Commissioners  arrived  at  Ox- 
ford on  the  20th  of  October  1687  ;  but  Master  Howe  maintained 
his  rights,  and  the  rights  of  the  body  which  had  elected  him.  On 
the  second  day,  the  Commissioners  deprived  him  of  his  Mastership, 
struck  his  name  from  the  books,  and  bound  him  in  a  penalty  of 
£1000  to  appear  in  the  King's  Bench.  Parker  was  put  into  pos- 
session by  force,  and  a  majority  of  the  Fellows  were  at  length 
prevailed  upon  to  submit  to  royal  dictation. 

This  ought  to  have  satisfied  the  imperious  monarch ;  but  it  was 
not  enough,  and  he  now  insisted  that  the  Fellows  should  acknow- 
ledge  their  disobedience  and  repentance  in  a  written  submission  ; 


96  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l687. 

but  right  nobly  they  resisted  this  stretch  of  tyranny,  withdrew 
their  former  submission,  and  declared  in  writing  that  they  could 
not  acknowledge  they  had  done  aught  amiss.  This  led  to  further 
outrages;  and,  on  the  16th  of  November,  judgment  was  pro- 
nounced against  them  in  the  shape  of  a  general  deprivation  and 
expulsion.  But  even  this  was  not  sufficient  to  appease  James's 
vengeance  ;  and  hence,  a  month  afterwards,  another  sentence  was 
issued,  incapacitating  all  and  every  of  the  Fellows  of  Magdalen 
from  holding  any  benefice  or  preferment  in  the  Church.  James 
also  declared  that  he  would  look  upon  any  favour  shown  to  the 
Fellows  as  a  combination  against  himself.  They  were  accord- 
ingly expelled ;  their  places  in  the  university  were  filled  by 
avowed  Papists,  or  by  very  doubtful  Protestants ;  and  they  them- 
selves were  left  to  find  employment  and  a  maintenance  in  the 
best  way  they  could.  James  intended  to  hinder  even  their  friends 
offering  them  assistance;  but,  notwithstanding  his  contemptible 
threats,  considerable  collections  were  made  for  them  ;  and  his  own 
daughter,  the  Princess  of  Orange,  sent  over  £200  for  their  relief; 
so  that,  in  the  end,  though  they  obtained  the  honours  of  martyr- 
dom, they  experienced  little  of  its  sufferings.  Twelve  months 
after  their  expulsion  their  intolerant  oppressor  made  a  miserable 
flight  to  France,  and  the  Prince  of  Orange  stepped  into  his 
place.* 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  such  disreputable  proceedings  that 
Samuel  Wesley  finished  his  collegiate  training,  and  left  the  excited 
seat  of  learning  where  he  had  spent  the  last  five  years.  As  already 
stated,  he  was  present  when  James  lectured  the  Fellows  of  Mag- 
dalen College  in  such  unkingly  fashion ;  and  Dr  Clarke  relates, 
on  the  authority  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Stedman,  that  the  spirit  of 
young  Wesley  rose  in  rebellion  against  this  exhibition  of  royal 
arrogance,  and  that  he  afterwards  remarked  :  "  When  I  heard  him 
say  to  the  Master  and  Fellows  of  Magdalen  College,  lifting  up  his 
lean  arm,  '  If  you  refuse  to  obey  me,  you  shall  feel  the  weight  of 
a  king's  right  hand,'  I  saw  he  was  a  tyrant.  And  though  I  was 
not  inclined  to  take  an  active  part  against  him,  I  was  resolved 
from  that  time  to  give  him  no  kind  of  support." 

This  may  be  true,  and  yet  there  is  considerable  difficulty  in 
reconciling  it  with  another  fact  which  must  be  mentioned. 

It  was  during  the  summer  of  1687  that  King  James  played  the 
*  Knight's  History  of  England. 


AGE  25.]  UNIVEKSITY  DAYS,  91 

tyrant  in  Magdalen  College,  and  it  was  on  the  10th  of  June  1688 
that  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  born.  The  words  of  young  Wesley, 
as  cited  by  Dr  Clarke,  are  evidence  that  he  had  formed  the  pur- 
pose to  take  no  part  with  those  who  were  intent  npon  the  de- 
thronement of  James.  He  was  a  man  far  too  loyal  to  become  a 
rebel ;  and  yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  regarded  the  interests 
of  James  with  indifference.  "I  was  resolved,"  says  he,  "from 
that  time  to  give  him  no  support."  While  James  was  king  he 
would  obey  him ;  but  while  bowing  to  the  royal  will,  he  would 
do  nothing  to  maintain  and  to  establish  the  royal  cause.  Such 
was  Wesley's  position  in  the  summer  of  1687 — one  of  neutrality, 
or,  at  the  most,  of  mere  obedience. 

But  twelve  months  afterwards,  at  the  birth  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  a  change  seems  to  have  come  over  him.  The  nation  took 
but  little  interest  in  this  event ;  in  fact,  it  was  alleged  that  the 
birth  of  a  royal  prince  was  a  royal  imposition ;  and  though  the 
court  commanded  London  to  make  bonfires,  and  to  exhibit  other 
signs  of  rejoicing,  London  was  sullen,  and  would  provide  no  re- 
joicings, except  for  the  seven  bishops  which  were  then  imprisoned 
in  the  Tower,  but  for  whose  rescue  from  the  royal  tyranny  of 
James  the  country  was  most  earnestly  hoping.  Among  other 
means  which  were  used  to  extort  congratulations  respecting  the 
royal  birth,  was  a  more  than  mere  gentle  hint  to  the  University 
of  Oxford  that  it  would  be  expected  to  furnish  a  volume  of  con- 
gratulatory poems,  and  that  even  Magdalen  College  itself  would 
join  in  this.*  Strange  to  say,  the  hint  was  adopted,  and  a  book 
was  written  containing  more  than  a  hundred  poetic  pieces  pro- 
fessing joy  at  the  birth  of  a  Prince  of  Wales. 

That  volume  is  now  before  us.  Its  title-page  bears  the  follow- 
ing inscription  : — "  Strense  Natalitise  Academies  Oxoniensis,  in 
Clarissimum  Principem :  Oxonii  E  Theatro  Sheldoniano.  An. 
Dom.  1668."  It  consists  of  86  folio  pages,  each  of  which  is 
headed,  "  In  Natalem  Sereniss.  Principis  Walli^e."  About  ninety 
of  the  poems  are  in  Latin,  two  are  in  Greek,  four  in  Arabic,  one 
in  Hebrew,  and  twelve  in  English.  The  celebrated  Hebrew  pro- 
fessor, Dr  Edward  Pococke,  wrote  his  in  Arabic.  Samuel  Wesley 
and  eleven  others  wrote  theirs  in  English.  Most  of  the  colleges, 
Magdalen  included,  are  represented.  The  writers  belonging  to 
Exeter  College  are,  Sir  Henry  Northcote,  Bart.,  John  Read,  Henry 
*  See  Ellis's  Correspondence,  vol.  ii.,  p.  4. 


92  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I688. 

Maundrell,  and  Samuel  Wesley.  Wesley's  poem  is  the  last  but 
two  in  the  book,  and  fills  two  pages.  The  poem  is  too  long  for 
insertion  here,  but  the  reader  will  find  it  complete,  with  the 
exception  of  about  half  a  dozen  small  errors,  in  Dr  Clarke's 
"Wesley  Family."  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  Wesley  represents 
Ariosto  as  bringing  his  lyre  from  heaven  to  join  in  the  rejoicings. 
Ariosto  also  draws  "a  vocal  picture"  of  the  royal  group.  The 
"dazzling  lustre"  of  all  the  graces  shines  around  the  eyes  of  the 
happy  Queen;  "Great  James's"  joy  is  "too  bright  to  be  ex- 
pressed," and  therefore  the  poet  puts  "  a  modest  veil  around  his 
radiant  head;"  while  the  infant  prince  has  his  mother's  eyes, 
through  which,  however,  shines  his  father's  soul.  The  child  is  "a 
child  of  miracles,"  and  a  "  son  of  prayers ;"  he  is  to  defend  "  his 
father's  mighty  throne,"  and  to  give  "Europe  peace;"  he  is  to 
have  "  valiant  brothers,"  who  will  "share  in  his  triumphs  ;"  and 
when  he  visits  Oxford,  the  "venerable  men,  who  met  Great  James 
his  father,  will  also  crowd  around  him."  As  the  result  of  his 
reign,  there  will  be  no  "  cloudy  foreheads,"  and  "  no  contracted 
brows;" — in  fact,  a  "  new  world"  will  "begin/'  and  a  "golden 
ao'e"  commence. 

This  is  the  substance  of  Samuel  Wesley's  poem.  The  young 
prince  is  most  lavishly  extolled ;  but  the  only  praise  bestowed  on 
the  father  is  that  he  was  "great"  and  perhaps  "brave"  and  lov- 
ing. At  first  sight,  the  poem  seems  to  clash  with  the  statement 
that  Samuel  Wesley  had  resolved,  twelve  months  before,  to  yield 
to  James  nothing  more  than  mere  obedience ;  but,  in  reality, 
there  is  no  such  collision.  Wesley  had  do  sympathy  with  James's 
tyrannical  proceedings  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  could  not  deny, 
what  most  historians  acknowledge,  that  James  was  a  knave  rather 
than  a  fool.  If  James's  reign  was  still  continued,  he  would  take 
no  part  against  him  ;  and  if  James  was  succeeded  by  his  infant 
son,  he  augurs  and  hopes  that  he  will  be  able  to  give  brightness 
to  foreheads  at  present  "  cloudy,"  and  to  smooth  the  brows  which 
are  now  contracted ;  in  short,  that  he  will  be  able  to  defend  the 
throne  of  his  father,  and  to  give  peace  to  Europe. 

We  have  felt  it  necessary  to  go  at  greater  length  than  we 
wished  into  this  part  of  Samuel  Wesley's  history,  because  of  the 
importance  which  has  been  attached  to  it  by  a  most  able  article 
on  "The  Ancestry  of  the  Wesleys,"  in  the  London  Quarterly 
Review  for  April  1864.     Our  conviction  is,  that  Samuel  Wesley 


AGE  26.]  UNIVEESITY  DAYS.  93 

was  an  intensely  loyal  man ;  and  that,  notwithstanding  all  the 
outrageous  tyranny  of  King  James,  he  would  never  have  taken 
part  against  him ;  but  when  James  ignominously  fled,  and  Wil- 
liam and  Mary,  by  the  voice  of  the  nation,  were  proclaimed  his 
successors,  Wesley  felt  that  he  owed  to  them  the  loyalty  and 
obedience  that  he  had  paid  to  James ;  and,  to  use  his  own  words, 
as  a  proof  of  his  loyalty,  he  wrote,  in  answer  to  an  out-of-door 
speech,  the  first  defence  of  the  government  that  appeared  after 
William  and  Mary's  accession ;  and  afterwards  published  many 
other  pieces,  both  in  prose  and  verse,  having  the  same  end  in 
view.* 

*  I  have  examined  a  large  number  of  pamphlets  published  at  this  period, 
hoping  to  find  the  "first  defence"  of  Samuel  Wesley.  A  list  of  some  of  these 
will  be  found  in  Appendix  B.  I  incline  to  think  that  Mr  Wesley's  is  in  that  list, 
but  I  am  not  sure. — L.  T. 


CHAPTER  V. 

NATIONAL  AFFAIRS — 1685-1688. 

A  QUARTEE  of  a  century  was  the  time  that  Charles  II.  occupied  the 
throne  of  Great  Britain.  His  reign  was  a  continued  scene  of  royal 
perfidy  and  sensual  dissipation.  He  was  a  deceiver,  a  despot,  and 
a  defiler.  He  was  the  slave  of  women,  and  his  court  was  the  school 
of  vice.  For  five-and-twenty  years  lie  played  the  hypocrite,  by 
professing  himself  an  orthodox  Protestant,  when,  all  the  while, 
he  was,  in  fact,  an  infidel.  In  all  the  relations  of  life,  public  and 
private,  he  was  unprincipled,  profligate,  false,  vicious,  and  corrupt ; 
whilst,  from  the  example  of  his  debauched  and  licentious  court, 
public  morals  contracted  a  taint  which  it  required  little  less  than 
a  century  to  obliterate,  and  which  for  a  time  wholly  paralysed  the 
character  of  the  nation.*  He  had  good  talents,  and  in  society 
was  kind,  familiar,  communicative ;  but  he  was  indolent,  negli- 
gent of  the  interests  of  the  nation,  careless  of  its  glory,  averse  to 
its  religion,  jealous  of  its  liberty,  lavish  of  its  treasure,  and  sparing 
only  of  its  blood.  It  has  been  remarked  of  him,  and  with  some 
amount  of  reason,  that  he  never  said  a  foolish  thing,  nor  ever  did 
a  wise  one.  He  had  enormous  vices,  without  the  tincture  of  any 
virtue  to  correct  them.  He  died  in  1685,  begging  forgiveness  of 
his  neglected  queen,  blessing  his  bastard  children,  asking  for 
kindness  to  be  shown  to  his  mistresses,  and  receiving  from  a 
popish  priest  the  Romish  communion,  extreme  unction,  and  a 
popish  pardon.-f" 

The  Duke  of  York  succeeded  his  brother  Charles  II.  to  the 

*  Ency.  Brit.,  "  Great  Britain." 

•j-  John  Wesley  says  of  him  : — "  He  was  in  every  respect  a  consummate  hypo- 
crite, equally  void  of  piety,  mercy,  honesty,  and  gratitude.  Under  a  cover  of 
gentleness  he  was  cruel  and  revengeful  to  a  high  degree.  He  was  abandoned  to 
all  vices.  A  worse  man  never  sat  on  the  English  throne." — Wesley's  History  of 
England,  vol.  iii.,  p.  316. 


AGE  32.]  NATIONAL  AFFAIRS.  95 

throne,  under  the  title  of  James  II.,  in  the  spring  of  1685.  On 
the  very  first  Sunday  after  his  accession  he  went  to  mass  with  all 
the  ensigns  of  royalty.  While  he  was  a  subject,  James  was  in 
the  habit  of  hearing  mass,  with  closed  doors,  in  a  small  oratory 
which  had  been  fitted  up  for  his  popish  wife  ;  but  now  that  he 
was  king,  he  ordered  the  doors  to  be  thrown  wide  open,  so  that 
all  who  came  to  pay  him  homage  might  see  the  superstitious  cere- 
monial. Soon,  also,  a  new  pulpit  was  erected  in  the  palace,  and, 
during  Lent,  sermons  were  preached  there  by  popish  divines,  to  the 
great  disgust  of  zealous  Protestants. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  James  was  to  throw  open  the  prisons  of 
England,  and  to  set  at  liberty  thousands  of  Dissenters  and  Papists, 
who  had  been  enduring  a  horrible  captivity  for  conscience'  sake. 

Two  months  after  James's  coronation,  the  Earl  of  Argyle  and 
the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  by  previous  concert,  invaded  Scotland 
and  England  with  a  small  force  from  Holland  ;  the  former  to  re- 
establish the  Covenant,  and  the  latter  to  secure  the  Protestant 
religion,  and  to  deliver  the  country  from  the  tyranny  of  its  en- 
throned monarch.     Argyle  sent  the  fiery  cross  from  hill  to  hill  in 
Scotland,  and  from  clan  to  clan,  until  he  got  2500  Highlanders  to 
join  him.     In  a  few  days  he  was  betrayed  by  his  guides,  and 
was  made  a  prisoner.     His  hands  were  tied  behind  him,  and,  with 
his  head  bare,  and  the  headsman  marching  before  him,  he  was 
carried  to  his   old  cell  in  Edinburgh  Castle,  and,  on  June  30, 
was  beheaded.     Monmouth,  in  England,  met  with  a  much  more 
general  welcome  than  Argyle  found  in  Scotland.     All  classes  of 
the  people  welcomed  him  as  a  deliverer  sent  from  heaven.     The 
poor  rent  the  air  with  their  joyful  acclamations,  and  the  rich 
opened  their  houses  and  supplied  his  army  with  meat  and  drink. 
His  path  was  strewn  with  flowers ;  and  windows,  as  he  passed 
through  towns,  were  crowded  with  ladies  waving  their  handker- 
chiefs.    On  the  20th  of  June,  at  Taunton,  he  took  the  title  of 
king ;  but,  after  marching  through  several  parts  of  the  West  of 
England,  his  army  was  scattered,  and  he  was  ignominiously  cap- 
tured in  a  ditch,  disguised  as  a  peasant,  with  '""a  few  peas  in  his 
pocket,  and  himself  half  buried  among  ferns  and  nettles.     With 
almost  abject  meanness,  he  implored  pardon  at  the  hands  of  James 
his  uncle,  but  without  effect,  for,  fifteen  days  after  Argyle  was 
beheaded  in  Edinburgh,  Monmouth  was   decapitated  on    Tower 
Hill. 


96  THE  LIFE  A.ND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l685. 

Immediately  after  Monmouth's  death,  Judge  Jeffreys  was  sent 
to  hold  his  "  bloody  assizes"  in  the  west.  His  first  victim  was 
Mrs  Lisle,  widow  of  one  of  the  Commonwealth  judges.  The 
charge  against  her  was  that  of  giving  shelter  to  two  of  Monmouth's 
fugitives.  For  this,  Jeffreys  sentenced  her  to  be  burnt  alive,  and 
further  ordered  that  the  sentence  should  be  executed  on  the  very 
day  that  his  foul  mouth  uttered  it.  The  clergy  of  Winchester 
promptly  interfered ;  three  days'  respite  were  wrung  from  the 
hard-hearted  judge  ;  and  the  venerable  matron  was  beheaded  in- 
stead of  being  burnt.  Prom  Winchester  this  brutal  being  went 
to  Dorchester,  on  the  same  murderous  business.  Here  the  court, 
by  order  of  Jeffreys,  was  hung  with  scarlet ;  more  than  three 
hundred  persons  were  waiting  to  be  tried  ;  two  hundred  and 
ninety-two  received  sentence  of  death,  but  only  about  eighty  were 
hanged,  the  rest  being  imprisoned,  severely  whipped,  or  trans- 
ported. Those  that  were  transported  were  sold  as  slaves  ;  and 
the  bodies  of  those  that  were  hanged  were  cut  into  quarters,  and 
stuck  up  on  gibbets.  For  this  bloody  work,  and  while  he  was 
yet  at  Dorchester,  Jeffreys  was  rewarded  and  encouraged  by  his 
applauding  and  grateful  sovereign,  who  raised  him  from  the  seat 
of  Lord  Chief -Justice  to  that  of  Lord  Chancellor.  JeflFreys, 
blushing  with  his  new  honours,  now  went  from  Dorchester  to 
Exeter,  where  another  red  list  of  two  hundred  and  forty-three 
prisoners  was  laid  before  him,  most  of  whom  in  a  few  days  were 
hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered.  At  Taunton,  nearly  eleven  hun- 
dred prisoners  were  arraigned  for  high  treason.  Ten  hundred 
and  forty  confessed  themselves  guilty  ;  only  six  ventured  to  put 
themselves  on  trial ;  and  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine,  at  the 
very  least,  were  executed  with  astounding  rapidity.  To  spread 
the  terror  more  widely,  these  executions  took  place  in  not  fewer 
than  thirty-six  different  towns  and  villages.  The  dripping  heads 
and  gory  limbs  of  the  deceased  were  fixed  in  the  most  conspicuous 
places, — in  the  streets,  by  the  highways,  over  town  halls,  and  over 
the  very  churches.  At  every  spot  where  two  roads  met,  in  every 
market-place,  and  on  the  green  of  every  village  that  had  furnished 
Monmouth  with  men,  ironed  corpses  clattered  in  the  wind,  or 
heads  and  quarters  of  human  beings,  stuck  on  poles,  poisoned  the 
air,  and  made  the  passing  traveller  sick  with  horror.  The  coun- 
try, for  a  stretch  of  sixty  miles,  from  Bristol  to  Exeter,  was 
studded  with  a  new  and  terrible  sort  of  sign-posts,  adorned  with. 


AGE  23.]  NATIONAL  AFFAIES.  97 

the  mangled  bodies  of  its  slausfhtered  inhabitants.  The  wretched 
Jeffreys  boasted,  when  he  returned  to  London,  that  in  his  "  bloody 
campaign"  he  had  hanged  more  men  than  all  the  judges  of  Eng- 
land had  hanged  since  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror. 

All  these  murderous  proceedings  of  Judge  Jeffreys  had  the 
approbation  of  King  James,  and  he  continued  to  be  one  of  the 
king's  principal  advisers  in  all  the  oppressions  and  arbitrary  mea- 
sures of  his  despotic  reign.  Four  years  after  his  legalised  mas- 
sacres in  the  West  of  England,  Jeffreys  wished  to  steal  away  to  a 
foreign  country,  there  to  hide  himself  and  his  ill-gotten  wealth 
from  the  detestation  of  mankind  ;  but  before  he  could  fulfil  his 
purpose,  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower.  The 
rabble  gathered  before  his  deserted  mansion,  and  read  on  the 
door,  with  shouts  of  laughter,  the- bills  which  announced  the  sale 
of  his  property.  Even  delicate  women,  who  had  tears  for  high- 
waymen and  housebreakers,  breathed  nothing  but  vengeance 
against  him.  The  street  poets  portioned  out  all  his  joints  with 
cannibal  ferocity,  and  computed  how  many  pounds  of  steaks  might 
be  cut  from  his  well-fattened  carcase.  He  was  exhorted  to  hang 
himself  with  his  garters,  and  to  cut  his  throat  with  his  razor. 
His  spirit,  as  mean  in  adversity  as  it  had  been  insolent  and  in- 
human in  prosperity,  sunk  under  the  load  of  public  abhorrence. 
His  constitution,  originally  bad  and  much  impaired  by  drunken- 
ness, was  completely  broken  by  distress  and  by  anxiety.  He  was 
tortured  by  a  cruel  internal  disease,  which  bafHed  the  doctors' 
skill.  One — only  one  solace  was  left  to  him — brandy.  Disease, 
assisted  by  strong  drink  and  by  misery,  did  its  work  with  great 
rapidity.  The  poor  wretch  dwindled,  in  a  few  weeks,  from  a 
portly  and  even  corpulent  man  to  a  skeleton  ;  and  on  the  10th  of 
April  1689,  he  died  at  the  early  age  of  forty-one.* 

But  to  return.  It  is  a  striking  coincidence,  that  about  the  time 
when  Judge  Jeffreys  was  holding  his  "  bloody  assizes  "  in  the  West 
of  England,  King  Louis  of  France  was  revoking  the  tolerant 
edict  of  Nantes,  and  driving  thousands  of  his  Huguenot  subjects  to 
England  and  other  lands  of  exile.  Other  curious  and  important 
events  happened  in  James's  short  reign,  which  our  space  permits 
to  be  only  mentioned.  For  instance,  Dryden,  the  greatest  writer  of 
the  day,  turned  Catholic,  perhaps  to  please  the  royal  Papist  sitting  on 
the  throne ;  but  Jeffreys  refused  to  do  so,  on  the  ground  that,  when 

*  Macaulay. 

G 


98  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I688. 

he  was  in  Africa,  he, promised  the  Emperor  of  Morocco  that,  if  he 
ever  changed  his  religion,  he  would  become  a  Turk.  Another 
pro-papistical  act  was  this, — King  James,  asserting  a  repealhig 
power  over  all  laws  and  Acts  of  Parliament,  took  upon  himself  not 
only  to  dismiss  Protestants  from  the  highest  civil  and  military 
offices,  but  to  put  Papists  into  their  places.  He  likewise  gave  the 
revenues  of  the  Church  in  Ireland,  to  a  great  extent,  to  popish 
bishops  and  priests,  and  not  merely  permitted,  but  commanded 
them  to  wear  their  canonicals  in  public.  He  cashiered  four  thou- 
sand Protestant  soldiers,  stripped  them  of  their  uniforms,  and  left 
them  to  wander  hungry  and  half-naked  through  the  land ;  their 
officers,  for  the  most  part,  retiring  into  Holland,  and  rallying 
round  the  Prince  of  Orange  there. 

All  this  excited  anxiety,  and,  at  length,  the  pulpits,  even  of 
High  Churchmen,  and  despite  the  dogma  of  passive  obedience, 
began  to  resound  with  warnings  and  denunciations.  James  now 
suspended  Compton,  Bishop  of  London ;  attempted  to  convert  his 
daughter,  the  Princess  Anne,  to  the  popish  religion  ;  and  tried  to 
deprive  his  daugliter  Mary,  the  Princess  of  Orange,  of  her  right  to 
the  succession.  He  endeavoured  to  obtain  the  control  of  the 
public  seminaries,  schools,  and  colleges ;  and  to  appoint  Papists 
to  be  their  officers.  Four  popish  bishops  were  publicly  con- 
secrated in  the  Chapel  Eoyal, — were  sent  to  their  dioceses  with 
the  titles  of  vicars  apostolical ;  their  pastoral  letters  being  also 
licensed,  printed,  and  dispersed  throughout  the  kingdom.  James 
likewise  issued  letters  mandatory  to  the  bishops  of  England,  pro- 
hibiting the  clergy  to  preach  upon  points  of  controversy,  and 
establishing  an  ecclesiastical  commission  with  more  power  than  had 
been  possessed  by  the  abominable  court  over  which  Laud  presided. 

At  the  beginning  of  1687,  a  declaration  of  indulgence  was  is- 
sued by  proclamation  at  Edinburgh,  "  We,  by  our  sovereign  autho- 
nty,  prerogative  royal,  and  absolute  power,  do  hereby  give  and 
grant  our  royal  toleration.  We  allow  and  tolerate  the  moderate 
Presbyterians  to  meet  in  their  private  houses,  and  to  hear  such 
ministers  as  have  been,  or  are  willing  to  accept  of  our  indulgence, 
but  they  are  not  to  build  meeting-houses,  but  to  exercise  in 
houses.  We  tolerate  Quakers  to  meet  in  their  form  in  any  place, 
or  places,  appointed  for  their  worship  :  and  we,  by  our  sovereign 
authority,  suspend,  stop,  and  disable,  all  laws  or  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment made  or  executed  against  any  of  our  Roman  Catholic  sub- 


AGE  25.]  NATIONAL  AFFAIRS.  9!J 

jects,  SO  that  they  shall  be  free  to  exercise  their  religion  and  to 
enjoy  all ;  but  they  are  to  exercise  in  houses  or  chapels  :  and  we 
cass,  annul,  and  discharge  all  oaths  by  which  our  subjects  are 
disabled  from  holding  offices/'* 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1687,  "a  declaration  for  liberty  of  con- 
science," came  out  in  the  Gazette,  by  which  all  the  penal  laws 
against  Protestant  Nonconformists,  as  well  as  Catholics,  were  to 
be  suspended.  The  declaration  gave  leave  to  all  men  to  meet  and 
serve  God  after  their  own  manner,  publicly  as  well  as  privately ; 
it  denounced  the  royal  displeasure,  and  the  vengeance  of  the  laws 
against  all  who  should  disturb  any  religious  worship ;  and  it 
granted  a  free  pardon  to  all  the  king's  loving  subjects  from  pen- 
alties, forfeitures,  and  disabilities  incurred  on  account  of  religion 
and  the  penal  laws. 

About  the  same  time.  King  James  went  to  Oxford,  and,  in  the 
exercise  of  his  popish  inclinations  and  despotic  principles,  made 
the  disgraceful  exhibition  of  himself,  in  Magdalen  College, 
which  was  witnessed  by  Samuel  Wesley,  and  which  is  related  in 
Chapter  IV. 

Twelve  months  after,  on  April  27,  1688,  he  published  another 
declaration  of  indulgence,  in  substance  the  same  as  the  two  above 
mentioned ;  but  which  went  a  step  farther,  for  not  only  was  the 
declaration  published,  but  all  the  clergy  were  commanded  to  read 
it  in  their  churches.  This  was  the  spark  that  set  fire  to  the  train, 
Avhich  had  been  accumulating  for  many  months. 

National  patience  was  exhausted.  These  indulgences  were  right 
enough  in  principle ;  but  there  were  two  great  objections  to  their 
being  published.  First,  it  was  a  most  unconstitutional  and  out- 
rageous stretch  of  royal  authority  to  pretend,  "  by  virtue  of  our 
sovereign  authority,  jJ'^'erogative  royal,  and  absolute  power,"  to 
"  suspend,  stop,  and  disable  laws  and  Acts  of  Parliament,"  with- 
out parliamentary  consent.  And,  secondly,  it  was  well  known 
that,  in  publishing  these  unconstitutional  declarations,  James  was 
not  actuated  with  the  least  wish  to  do  justice  to  Protestant  Non- 
conformists ;  but  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  desired  the  toleration 
of  his  own  sect,  the  Papists ;  and  hoped  that  this  might  be  a  pre- 
paratory step  to  the  triumphant  establishment  of  the  Popish 
Church.  James's  conduct  in  Scotland,  where  he  had  hacked  to 
pieces  so  many  Protestants,  could  not  be  forgotten,  but  spoke  far 

*  Knight's  Pictorial  Histwy 


100  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lC88. 

more  loudly  than  the  hollow-hearted  language  of  his  indulgent 
declarations ;  besides,  the  loud  denunciations  of  James's  Lord 
Chancellor,  the  bloodthirsty  Jeffreys,  against  all  Protestant  Dis- 
senters as  king-haters,  rebels,  and  republicans,  were  still  ringing 
in  the  nation's  ears.  The  people  remembered  that,  within  the  last 
three  years,  the  great  and  good  Eichard  Baxter,  had  been  com- 
mitted to  the  King's  Bench  Prison  on  the  charge  of  printing  his 
paraphrase  of  the  New  Testament ;  and  had  been  brought  to  trial, 
before  Jeffreys,  at  Westminster,  at  the  very  time  that  Titus  Gates 
was  standing  in  the  pillory  in  the  New  Palace  Yard ;  Jeffreys 
gleefully  exclaiming  at  the  moment,  "  If  Baxter  stood  on  the 
other  side  of  Oates's  pillory,  I  would  say  two  of  the  greatest 
rogues  and  rascals  in  the  kingdom  stood  there."  The  people  re- 
membered that  the  insulted  Baxter,  for  his  alleged  offence,  had 
been  fined  five  hundred  marks,  and  had  been  ordered  to  lie  in 
prison  nhtil  the  fine  was  paid ;  besides  being  bound  to  good  be- 
haviour for  seven  years.  They  were  not  able  to  forget,  that,  in 
the  very  year  before  the  first  declaration  was  issued,  the  Pro- 
testant Dissenters  had  again  and  again  had  their  private  religious 
meetings,  which  they  had  dared  to  hold,  disturbed  and  broken  up, 
both  in  town  and  country,  by  the  myrmidons  of  King  James's 
government ;  and  that  Sir  John  Hartop,  and  some  others,  at 
Stoke  Newington,  had  had  distresses  levied  for  the  payment  of  a 
fine  of  about  £700.*  For  James  to  pretend  friendship  to  Pro- 
testant Dissenters,  in  the  face  of  such  facts,  was  a  piece  of 
hypocrisy,  which  none  but  a  royal  simpleton,  afilicted  with  a  little 
mind,  and  blinded  by  prejudice,  would  have  attempted  to  impose 
upon  the  credulity  of  intelligent  and  religious  men. 

Never,  not  even  under  the  tyranny  of  Laud,  had  the  condition 
of  the  Dissenters  been  so  deplorable  as  it  was  under  James.  Never 
had  spies  been  so  actively  employed  in  detecting  congregations ; 
and  never  had  magistrates,  grand-jurors,  rectors,  and  church- 
wardens been  so  much  on  the  alert.  It  was  impossible  for  the 
sectaries  to  pray  together  without  precautions  such  as  are  em- 
ployed by  coiners  and  receivers  of  stolen  goods.  Places  of  worship 
had  to  be  frequently  changed.  Worship  had  to  be  performed, 
sometimes  just  before  the  break  of  day,  and  sometimes  at  dead  of 
night.  Pound  the  building  where  the  little  flock  was  gathered 
together,  sentinels  were  placed  to  give  the  alarm  if  a  stranger  drew 

*  Baxter's  Life  and  Times. 


AGE  26.]  NATIONAL  AFFAIRS.  101 

near.  The  minister,  in  disguise,  was  introduced  through  the 
garden  and  the  back  yard.  In  some  houses,  there  were  trap  doors, 
through  which,  in  case  of  danger,  he  might  descend.  No  psalm 
was  sung ;  and  many  contrivances  were  used  to  prevent  the  voice 
of  the  preacher,  in  his  moments  of  fervour,  from  being  heard  out- 
side. And  yet,  with  all  this  care,  several  opulent  gentlemen  in 
the  suburbs  of  London  were  accused  of  holding  conventicles,  and 
distresses  were  levied  to  the  amount  of  many  thousand  pounds. 
Dissenting  ministers,  however  blameless  in  life,  however  eminent 
for  learning  and  abilities,  could  not  venture  to  walk  the  streets  for 
fear  of  outrages,  encouraged  by  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  pre- 
serve the  i3eace.  Some  divines  of  great  fame  were  in  prison ; 
others,  crushed  with  oppression,  had  quitted  the  kingdom ;  and 
great  numbers,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  frequent  conventicles, 
repaired  to  the  parish  church.* 

What  was  the  result  ?  James  commanded  that  the  declaration, 
published  on  the  27tli  of  April  1688,  should  be  read  by  all  the 
clergy  in  their  churches,  in  and  about  London,  on  the  20th  and 
27th  of  May ;  and  in  all  the  rest  of  England  and  Wales  on  the 
3d  and  10th  of  June  following.  The  bishops  -f  were  commanded 
to  be  vigilant  in  enforcing  the  royal  order,  and  those  who  refused 
to  read  were  to  be  prosecuted  by  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners. 
The  20th  of  May  arrived  ;  but  only  seven,  out  of  a  hundred  clergy- 
men in  London  read  the  declaration,  and  even  they  read  with 
fear  and  trembling,  being  groaned  at  by  their  congregations.  On 
the  27th  of  May  the  signs  of  obedience  were  not  more  numerous  ; 
and  a  newly-appointed  reader  at  the  Chapel  Royal  was  so  much  agi- 
tated that  he  was  not  able  to  read  the  declaration  so  as  to  be  heard. 
On  the  3d  and  10th  of  June,  the  mass  of  the  clergy  in  the  pro- 
vinces and  in  Wales,  were  quite  as  disobedient  as  those  in  the 
capital.  It  is  said  that,  at  the  time,  there  were  more  than  ten 
thousand  clergy  in  the  kingdom,  and  yet  not  more  than  two  hun- 
dred complied  with  the  royal  will. 

And  here  we  must  pause,  for  the  purpose  of  spoiling  a  very 
interesting  story  respecting  Samuel  Wesley.  The  Rev.  Henry 
Moore  relates  that  Samuel  Wesley  was  strongly  solicited  by  the 
friends  of  King  James  II.  to  support  the  measures  of  the  court  in 
favour  of  Popery,  with  a  promise  of  preferment,  if  he  would 
comply  with  the  king's  desire.     But  when  the  time  came  for  read- 

*  Macaulay.  +  Ibid. 


102  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I688. 

ing  the  king's  declaration,  he  most  firmly  refused ;  and  though 
surrounded  by  courtiers,  soldiers,  and  informers,  he  preached  a 
bold  and  pointed  discourse  against  it  from  Daniel  iii.  17,  18  : 
"  If  it  be  so,  our  God  whom  we  serve  is  able  to  deliver  us  from 
the  burning  fiery  furnace,  and  he  will  deliver  us  out  of  thine  hand, 
0  king.  But  if  not,  be  it  known  unto  thee,  0  king,  that  we  will 
not  serve  thy  gods,  nor  worship  the  golden  image  which  thou 
hast  set  up."  Unfortunately  this  heroic  story  is  untrue.  As  we 
shall  see  shortly,  Samuel  Wesley  Avas  not  ordained  a  deacon  until 
two  months  after  the  declaration  was  commanded  to  be  read,  and 
therefore,  at  the  time,  was  not  authorised  to  preach,  either  from 
such  a  text,  or  from  any  text  at  all ;  nor  was  he  in  a  position 
either  to  read  or  to  refuse  to  read  the  king's  declaration. 

The  story  has  been  repeated  by  Southey,  by  Macaulay,  by  Dr 
Smith,  by  Dr  Stevens,  and  by  many  other  of  the  leading  historians 
of  the  age ;  but,  as  just  shown,  it  is  utterly  without  foundation. 
Henry  Moore's  mistake  was  a  simple  and  easy  one.  He  attributes 
to  Samuel  Wesley  a  fact  which  belongs  to  the  Eev.  John  Berry, 
A.M.,  vicar  of  Watton,  in  Norfolk,  the  father-in-law  of  Samuel 
Wesley,  jun.  The  latter,  in  a  '■'  poem  upon  a  clergyman  lately 
deceased,"  published  in  1731,  delineates  the  character  of  Mr 
Berry  ;  and  the  poem,  in  substance,  contains  the  story,  which 
has  so  long  and  so  often  been  improperly  applied  to  Samuel 
Wesley,  sen. : — 

"  Wheu  zealous  James,  unhappy  sought  the  way, 
T'  establish  Rome  by  arbitrary  sway, 
'Twas  then  the  Christian  priest  was  nobly  tried, 
When  hireling  slaves  embraced  the  stronger  side, 
And  saintly  sects  and  sycophants  complied. 
In  vain  were  bribes  shower'd  by  the  guilty  crown, 
He  sought  no  favour  as  he  fear'd  no  frown. 
Nor  loudest  storms  his  steady  purpose  broke, 
Firm  as  the  beaten  anvil  to  the  stroke. 
Secure  in  faith,  exempt  from  worldly  views. 
He  dared  the  declaration  to  refuse ; 
Then  from  the  sacred  pulpit  boldly  show'd, 
The  dauntless  Hebrews  true  to  Israel's  God, 
Who  spake  regardless  of  their  king's  commands : 
'  The  God  we  serve  can  save  us  from  thy  hands ; 
If  not,  0  monarch,  know  we  choose  to  die, 
Thy  gods  alike  and  threat'nings  we  defy. 
No  power  on  earth  our  faith  has  e'er  controU'd, 
We  scorn  to  worship  idols,  though  of  gold.' 


AGE  26.]  NATIONAL  AFFAIRS.  1 03 

Resistless  truth  damp'd  all  the  audience  round, 
The  base  informer  sicken'd  at  the  sound  ; 
Attentive  courtiers  conscious  stood  amazed, 
And  soldiers  silent  trembled  as  they  gazed. 
No  smallest  murmur  of  distaste  arose, 
Abash'd  and  vanquish'd  seem'd  the  Church's  foes. 
So  when  like  zeal  their  bosoms  did  inspire. 
The  Jewish  martyrs  walk'd  unhurt  in  fire  !  "  * 

We  are  not  sure  that  even  this  was  intended  to  be  considered 
as  the  description  of  a  fact  actually  occurring  in  the  history  of 
the  poet's  father-in-law.  It  might  be  notliing  more  than  a  poeti- 
cal and  general  description  of  the  position  taken  by  the  ten  thou- 
sand clergy,  who  refused  to  read  King  James's  declaration.  Any- 
how, for  the  reason  already  mentioned,  it  could  not  be  true  of 
Samuel  Wesley,  sen.  No  doubt  Samuel  Wesley  was  as  brave  a 
man  as  ever  lived  ;  and  had  he  been  placed  in  the  circumstances, 
stated  by  Henry  Moore,  he  would  have  had  sufficient  courage  to 
act  as  it  is  alleged  he  did.  He  regarded  King  James  as  a  tyrant ; 
and  his  views  of  the  king's  declaration  may  be  fairly  gathered 
from  the  following  question  and  answer  in  the  Athenian 
Oracle : — * 

"  Ques.  What  think  you  of  the  liberty  of  conscience  granted  in 
the  late  reign  ?  Was  it  procured  by  the  Catholics  out  of  any 
design,  or  purely  for  the  good  and  peace  of  the  subjects  ? 

"  Ans.  It  is  contrary  to  reason  to  believe  that  any  true  and 
zealous  Papist  can  be  for  liberty  of  conscience,  it  being  a  funda- 
mental of  their  religion,  that  all  who  differ  from  them  in  matters 
of  faith  are  heretics,  and  ought  to  be  destroyed.  And,  as  it  is  natural 
for  every  persuasion  to  plead  for  liberty  when  they  are  denied  it, 
and  cannot  have  the  freedom  to  serve  God  in  their  own  method, 
so  likewise,  experience  teaches  us,  that  if  the  wheel  turns,  these 
very  men  which  abhorred  persecution,  are  no  sooner  in  power  but 
immediately  endeavour  by  force  to  bring  others  to  a  compliance 
with  what  they  profess.  And  if  we  find  this  error  amongst  the 
mildest  and  most  charitable  persuasions,  we  dare  confidently 
affirm  it  would  not  have  been  otherwise  with  Eoman  Catholics, 
since  they  look  upon  the  converting  of  heretics  to  be  no  small 
meritorious  work." 

But  leaving  the  ten  thousand  clergymen  who  refused  to  read 

*  Poems  by  S.  Wesley,  jun.,  London,  1736.  t  Vol.  ii.,  p.  60. 


104<  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I688. 

King  James's  declaration,  and  also  abstaining  from  any  further 
notice  of  the  apochryphal  story  concerning  Samuel  Wesley's 
bravery,  we  must  now  return  to  the  declaration  itself. 

James  commanded  this  royal  manifesto  to  be  read  in  churches, 
and  charged  the  bishops  to  take  care  that  his  mandate  was  obeyed. 
Two  days  before  the  time  when  the  declaration  was  to  be  first 
read,  six  of  the  bishops  met  the  primate,  Bancroft,  at  his  palace 
at  Lambeth  ;  and  there,  with  the  assent  of  the  ex-minister  Lord 
Clarendon,  and  of  Tillotson,  Stillingfleet,  Patrick,  Tennison, 
Grove,  and  Sherlock,  esteemed  the  best  preachers  and  writers  in 
the  Church,  it  was  privately  resolved  that  a  petition,  prepared  by 
San  croft,  should  be  forthwith  presented  to  his  Majesty.  The 
petition,  which  was  delivered  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 
humbly  showed  that  the  objection  of  the  clergy  to  read  the  decla- 
ration did  not  arise  from  their  want  of  obedience  to  the  king, 
nor  yet  from  any  want  of  tenderness  to  Dissenters  ;  but  because 
the  declaration  was  founded  upon  a  dispensing  power  in  the  king, 
which  had  often  been  declared  illegal  in  parliament.  James  read 
the  petition,  and  coolly  folded  it  up,  and  then,  with  disdain  and 
anger,  said,  "  This  is  a  great  surprise  to  me.  This  is  a  standard 
of  rebellion."  The  bishops  protested  against  such  an  interpreta- 
tion. James  kept  muttering,  "  Is  this  what  I  have  deserved  from 
the  Church  of  England  ?  I  will  remember  you  who  have  signed 
this  paper.  I  will  be  obeyed."  On  the  morrow,  as  he  was  on 
his  way  to  mass,  he  met  the  Bishop  of  St  David's.  "  My  lord," 
cried  he,  "  your  brethren  have  presented  the  most  seditious  paper 
that  was  ever  penned.     It  is  a  trumpet  of  rebellion." 

Three  weeks  after,  the  seven  bishops  were  summoned  before  the 
Privy  Council,  to  answer  a  charge  of  high  misdemeanour,  and 
were  committed  to  the  Tower.  They  were  conveyed  from  White- 
hall by  water,  and  were  followed  by  the  tears  and  prayers  of  thou- 
sands. Both  banks  of  the  Thames  were  lined  with  multitudes, 
who  fell  on  their  knees,  beseeching  God  to  protect  the  sufferers 
for  religion  and  liberty.  The  very  soldiers  in  the  Tower  acted  as 
mourners ;  and  even  the  Nonconformists,  who  had  felt  all  the 
bitterness  of  EjDiscopal  persecution,  sent  a  deputation  of  ten  of 
their  ministers  to  wait  upon,  and  condole  with  the  prisoners. 
Twenty-eight  peers  were  ready  to  bail  them  ;  and  messages  were 
brought  over  from  Holland,  assuring  them  of  the  sympathy  of  the 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Orancfe. 


AGE  26.]  NATIONAL  AFFAIRS.  105 

A  week  later,  on  the  15th  of  June,  they  were  brought  before 
the  King's  Bench,  by  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  An  immense  con- 
course of  people  received  them  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  fol- 
lowed them  to  Westminster  Hall,  the  greater  part  falling  upon 
their  knees,  wishing  them  happiness,  and  asking  their  blessing. 
Within  the  court,  the  bishops  found  the  peers  who  offered  to  be 
their  sureties,  and  a  crowd  of  gentlemen  attached  to  their  interests. 
They  Avere  charged  with  a  seditious  libel.  They  pleaded  "  Not 
Guilty."     The  trial  was  then  postponed  for  a  fortnight. 

At  the  expiration  of  that  time,  the  bishops  again  entered  West- 
minster Hall,  surrounded  by  lords  and  gentlemen,  and  followed 
by  prayers  and  blessings.  The  trial  began  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  At  seven  in  the  evening,  the  jury  retired  to  consider 
their  verdict,  and  were  locked  up  all  night.  At  nine  next  morn- 
ing, they  returned  the  verdict  "  Not  Guilty."  The  noblemen,  gen- 
tlemen, and  people  within  the  court  raised  a  loud  huzza.  This 
was  echoed  back  by  a  louder  huzza  from  those  without.  As  the 
bishops  passed  to  the  river  side,  there  was  a  lane  of  people,  all  on 
their  knees,  to  beg  their  benediction.  Sixty  earls  and  lords  were 
present,  joining  in  the  jubilations  of  the  people.  At  night  Lon- 
don was  lighted  from  end  to  end  with  blazing  bonfires,  all  the 
church  bells  were  ringing,  and  the  Pope  was  burned  in  effigy  be- 
fore the  windows  of  the  royal  palace.  The  excitement  was  amaz- 
ing. James's  popish  and  despotic  reign  was  doomed.  The 
royally-applauded  atrocities  of  Judge  Jeffreys,  which  made  the 
land  a  shambles,  and  turned  the  law  itself  into  the  bloodiest  of 
tyrannies,  awoke  only  groans  and  muttered  curses ;  but  the  im- 
prisonment of  seven  bishops  at  once  brought  about  a  revolu- 
tion. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  same  month  that  the  trial  of  the  bisliops 
took  place,  the  queen  was  delivered  of  a  fine  healthy  boy.  The 
Lord  Mayor  of  London  was  commanded  to  provide  bonfires  and 
other  public  rejoicings  ;  but  there  were  no  bonfires  now  except  for 
persecuted  bishops,  and  the  alleged  birth  of  a  prince,  instead  of 
being  honoured,  was  pronounced  to  be  a  gross  imposture. 

The  Protestants,  Tories  as  well  as  Whigs,  turned  to  the  Prince 
of  Orange  as  their  only  hope,  and  an  invitation  was  sent  to  him 
to  come  from  Holland,  with  an  armed  force,  to  call  in  question 
the  legitimacy  of  the  pretended  new  born  prince,  and  to  redress 
the  grievances  of  the  nation.     Before  the  month  expired,  Prince 


106  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I688. 

William  had  collected  15,000  land  troops,  a  fleet  of  seventy  shij^s, 
and  a  large  train  of  artillery. 

James  began  to  apprehend  danger,  and  attempted  to  disarm 
the  animosity  of  the  people  by  concessions.  He  even  conde- 
scended to  consult  with  the  seven  bishops  whom  he  had  so  recently 
harassed.  He  replaced  the  Protestant  deputy-lieutenants  and 
magistrates.  He  gave  back  to  the  city  of  London  its  old  charter, 
and  restored  Compton  to  his  Episcopal  office. 

On  the  3d  of  October,  the  primate  and  eight  bishops  waited 
upon  the  king,  and  endeavoured  to  bring  him  back  "  to  the 
religion  in  which  he  had  been  baptized  and  educated;"  but, 
just  at  that  time,  the  infant,  whose  bii'th  had  helped  to  increase 
the  storm,  was  baptized,  with  great  pomp,  according  to  the  rites 
of  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  Pope,  represented  by  his  nuncio, 
was  godfather  to  the  child,  and  the  baptism  of  James  Francis 
Edward,  with  full  particulars  of  the  ceremony,  was  published  in 
the  Gazette.  This  added  fresh  elements  to  the  storm  which  was 
already  raging,  and  the  bastardy  of  the  unlucky  child  was  sung  in 
scurrilous  songs  in  the  streets  of  London. 

On  October  16th,  William  of  Orange  set  sail,  his  ship  bearing 
the  British  flag,  which  was  emblazoned  with  the  motto,  "  I  will 
maintain  the  Protestant  religion,  and  the  liberties  of  England." 
James  soon  found  that  his  game  was  ended,  and  that  there  was 
nothing  left  for  him  but  an  ignominious  flight.  William  came 
safe  to  anchor  at  Torbay,  and  landed  on  the  5th  of  Novem- 
ber, the  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot. 
Exactly  five  weeks  after,  the  queen,  disguised  as  an  Italian  lady, 
fled  with  the  infant  prince  across  the  Thames  to  Lambeth,  being 
lighted  on  her  dolorous  way  by  the  flames  of  burning  popish 
chapels.  From  Lambeth,  she  and  her  child  were  conveyed  in 
a  coach  to  Gravesend,  where  they  entered  a  yacht,  which  landed 
them  at  Calais.  In  less  than  twenty-four  hours  the  stupified 
king  fled  after  them,  throwing  the  great  seal  of  England  into  the 
river  as  he  crossed  to  the  Surrey  side.  At  Feversham  he  em- 
barked in  a  custom-house  hoy.  The  boat  encountered  a  storm, 
and  was  obliged  to  put  in  at  the  Isle  of  Sheppy.  There  the 
people  seized  the  disguised  monarch,  under  the  idea  that  he  was  a 
fugitive  Jesuit,  treated  him  with  rudeness,  and  dragged  him  back 
a  prisoner  to  Faversham.  At  Faversham  he  was  subjected  to 
further  indignities,  the  mob  calling  him  a  "  hatchet-faced  Jesuit." 


AGE  26.]  NATIONAL  AFFAIRS.  107 

At  length  he  was  rescued  by  Lord  Wiuchelsea  out  of  the  rude  hands 
of  sailors,  smugglers,  and  fishermen,  and  actually  came  back  to 
London,  and  invited  his  son-in-law,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  to  meet 
him,  for  the  purpose  of  amicably  settling  the  distractions  of  the 
nation.  The  invitation  was  declined ;  and,  on  December  2od, 
James  again  set  sail  for  France,  where  he  landed  two  days  after ; 
and  thus  was  England  happily  delivered  from  the  popish,  perfidious, 
dissolute,  and  despotic  dynasty  of  the  Stuarts,*  Seven  weeks  after- 
wards both  Houses  of  Parliament  agreed  to  the  resolution,  "  That 
William  and  Mary,  Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange,  be,  and  be 
declared,  King  and  Queen  of  England,  France,  and  L^eland,  and 
the  dominions  thereto  belonging." 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  national  revolution  that  Samuel 
Wesley  left  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  became  an  ordained 
clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Perhaps  this  digression  may  be  thought  too  long,  and  yet,  at 
the  risk  of  wearying  the  reader's  patience  still  further,  a  few  more 
sljetches  of  the  state  of  the  country,  at  this  momentous  period  of 
its  history,  are  added.  They  are  chiefly  taken  from  Macaulay, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  they  may  help  to  convey  some  idea  of  the 
condition  of  affairs  when  Samuel  Wesley  commenced  his  ministry. 
Things  at  that  time  were  widely  different  from  what  they  are  at 
present,  and  that  must  be  borne  in  mind  if  the  reader  wishes 
rightly  to  understand  the  difficulties  and  discouragements  of  a 
Christian  minister  like  the  subject  of  this  biography. 

London,  where  Wesley  first  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his 
sacred  ofiice,  was,  comparatively  speaking,  a  small,  dirty,  ill-built 
town.  In  the  east,  no  part  of  the  immense  line  of  warehouses  and 
artificial  lakes,  which  now  spreads  from  the  Tower  to  Blackwall, 
had  even  been  projected.  On  the  west,  scarcely  one  of  those 
stately  piles  of  building,  which  are  inhabited  by  the  noble  and 
the  wealthy,  was  in  existence ;  and  Chelsea,  now  peopled  by  tens 
of  thousands  of  human  beings,  was  then  a  quiet  country  village. 
On  the  north  cattle  fed,  and  sportsmen  wandered  with  dogs  and 

*  The  following  is  John  Wesley's  character  of  King  James  :  "  He  appears  to 
have  been  proud,  haughty,  vindictive,  cruel,  and  unrelenting ;  and  though  he 
approved  himself  an  obedient  subject,  he  certainly  became  one  of  the  most  intoler' 
able  sovereigns  that  ever  reigned  over  a  free  people.  He  could  have  no  true  reli- 
gion, at  least  while  in  England,  as  he  made  no  conscience  at  all  of  adultery.  He 
is  said  afterwards  to  have  been  a  new  man.  Probably  the  loss  of  his  crown  was 
the  saving  of  his  soul." — Wesley's  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.,  p.  348. 


108  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I688. 

guns  over  the  site  of  the  borough  of  Marylebone,  and  over  far 
the  greater  space  now  covered  by  the  boroughs  of  Finsbury  and 
the  Tower  Hamlets.  Islington  was  almost  a  solitude  ;  and  poets 
loved  to  contrast  its  silence  and  repose  with  the  din  and  turmoil 
of  the  monster  London.  On  the  south,  the  capital  was  connected 
with  its  suburbs  by  a  single  line  of  irregular  arches,  impeding  the 
navigation  of  the  river,  and  overhung  by  piles  of  mean  and  crazy 
houses.  In  Covent  Garden  a  filthy  and  noisy  market  was  held 
close  to  the  dwellings  of  the  great.  Fruit  women  screamed, 
carters  fought,  and  cabbage  stalks  and  rotten  apples  accumulated 
in  heaps  at  the  thresholds  of  the  Countess  of  Berkshire  and  of  the 
Bishop  of  Durham.  The  centre  of  Lincoln's-Inn-Fields  was  an 
open  space,  where  the  rabble  congregated  every  evening  to  hear 
mountebanks  harangue,  to  see  bears  dance,  and  to  set  dogs  at 
oxen.  St  James's  Square  was  a  receptacle  for  all  the  offal  and 
cinders,  and  for  all  the  dead  cats  and  dead  dogs  of  Westminster. 
The  pavement  of  London  was  detestable,  and  the  drainage  so  bad 
that,  in  rainy  weather,  the  gutters  soon  became  torrents.  The 
houses  were  not  numbered.  The  shops  were  distinguished  by 
painted  signs,  gay  and  grotesque.  The  walk  from  Charing  Cross 
to  Wliitechapel  lay  through  an  endless  succession  of  Saracens' 
Heads,  Koyal  Oaks,  Blue  Bears,  and  Golden  Lambs.  When  the 
evening  closed  in,  garret  windows  were  opened,  and  pails  were 
emptied,  with  little  regard  to  those  who  walked  on  the  path  below. 
Most  of  the  streets  were  left  in  profound  darkness,  where  thieves 
plied  their  trade  with  impunity,  and  dissolute  young  gents  broke 
windows,  upset  sedans,  beat  quiet  men,  and  offered  rude  caresses 
to  pretty  women. 

Nothing  like  the  London  daily  newspaper  of  our  time  existed, 
or  could  exist.  Both  the  necessary  capital  and  the  necessary  skill 
were  wanting.  No  newspaper  was  published  oftener  than  twice  a 
week;  and  none  exceeded  in  size  a  single  small  leaf.  The  quantity 
of  matter  which  one  of  them  contained  in  a  year  was  not  more 
than  is  often  found  in  two  numbers  of  ■  the  Times.  There  were  no 
provincial  newspapers  whatever.  Indeed,  except  in  the  capital 
and  at  the  two  universities,  there  was  scarcely  a  printer  in  the 
kingdom ;  and  the  only  printing  press  in  England,  north  of  the 
river  Trent,  appears  to  have  been  at  York. 

In  the  country,  many  thousands  of  square  miles,  now  enclosed 
and  cultivated,  were  marsh,  forest,  and  heath.     The  peasant  kept 


AGE  26.]  NATIONAL  AFFAIES.  109 

a  flock  of  geese  on  what  is  now  an  orchard  rich  with  apple  blos- 
soms. He  snared  wild  fowl  on  the  fen  which  has  long  since  been 
drained,  and  divided  into  corn  and  turnip  fields.  He  cut  turf 
among  the  furze  bushes  on  the  moor,  which  is  now  a  meadow, 
bright  with  clover,  and  renowned  for  its  butter  and  its  cheese. 
The  market-place,  which  the  rustic  can  now  reach  with  his  cart 
in  an  hour,  was  then  a  day's  journey  from  his  home.  On  the 
best  lines  of  communication,  the  ruts  of  the  roads  were  deep,  the 
descents  precipitous,  and  the  way  often  such  as  it  was  hardly 
possible  to  distinguish,  in  the  dusk,  from  the  unenclosed  heath  and 
fen  which  lay  on  both  sides.  It  was  only  in  fine  weather  that 
the  whole  breadth  of  the  road  was  available  ;  for,  in  wet,  the  mud 
lay  deep  both  on  the  right  and  the  left,  and  only  a  narrow  track 
of  firm  ground  rose  above  the  quagmire  on  each  hand.  Almost 
every  day  coaches  stuck  fast,  until  teams  of  cattle  could  be  pro- 
cured from  some  neighbouring  farm,  to  tug  them  out  of  the  slough 
in  which  they  were  imbedded.  On  the  best  highways,  heavy  goods 
were  generally  conveyed  by  stage  waggons,  in  the  straw  of  which 
nestled  a  crowd  of  passengers,  who  were  not  able  to  ride  on  horse- 
back, and  could  not  afford  to  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  a  coach. 
The  expense  of  transmitting  heavy  goods  was  enormous.  From 
London  to  Birmingham,  the  charge  was  £7  a  ton ;  and  from 
London  to  Exeter  it  was  £12.  The  cost  of  conveyance  amounted 
to  a  prohibitory  tax  on  many  useful  articles ;  and  coal,  in  par- 
ticular, was  never  seen  except  in  the  districts  where  it  was 
produced,  or  in  the  districts  to  which  it  was  conveyed  by  water. 
On  by-roads,  and  generally  throughout  the  country  north  of  York 
and  west  of  Exeter,  goods  were  carried  by  long  trains  of  pack- 
horses  ;  and  a  traveller  of  humble  condition  often  found  it  con- 
venient to  perform  a  journey,  mounted  on  a  pack-saddle,  and 
seated  between  two  baskets.  The  rich  commonly  travelled  in  their 
own  carriages,  drawn  by  at  least  four  horses,  and  often  by  six,  be- 
cause, with  a  less  number,  there  was  great  danger  of  sticking  fast. 
Flying  coaches  ran  thrice  a  week  from  London  to  the  chief  towns; 
but  no  stage-coach,  indeed  no  stage- waggon,  appears  to  have  pro- 
ceeded further  north  than  York,  or  further  west  than  Exeter. 
The  ordinary  day's  journey  of  a,  flying  coach  was  about  fifty  miles 
in  summer ;  and  in  winter,  when  the  roads  were  bad  and  the  nights 
were  long,  a  little  more  than  thirty.  In  Cornwall,  in  the  fens  of 
Lincolnshire,  and  among  the  hills  and  lakes  of  Cumberland,  letters 


110  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [IG88. 

were  received  only  once  a-week  ;  the  letter-bags  being  carried  on 
horseback,  day  and  night,  at  the  rate  of  about  five  miles  an  hour. 
Travellers,  unless  they  were  numerous  and  well  armed,  ran  con- 
siderable risk  of  being  stopped  and  plundered  ;  for  the  mounted 
highwayman  was  to  be  found  on  every  main  road,  held  an  aristo- 
cratic position  in  the  community  of  thieves,  appeared  in  fashion- 
able coffee-houses  in  the  capital,  and  betted  with  men  of  quality 
on  the  race  grounds  of  the  country. 

Most  of  Samuel  Wesley's  life  was  spent  in  rural  districts  ;  and 
therefore  amid  the  marshes,  fens,  forests,  and  heaths,  the  impas- 
sable roads,  and  the  highway  dangers  just  described.  He  was  an 
author ;  but  printing  presses  in  the  country  did  not  exist.  He 
was  a  man  of  education  and  of  public  spirit ;  but  to  obtain  a  news- 
paper was  almost  impossible.  He  was  the  head  of  a  family ;  but 
to  get  coals,  and  other  imported  household  comforts  at  Wroote 
and  at  Epworth,  was  a  thing  never  contemplated.  He  was  a 
student ;  but  the  difficulty  and  expense  of  conveying  books  from 
London  to  Lincolnshire  were  so  great,  that  a  folio  was  longer  in 
reaching  its  way  from  Paternoster  Row  to  Epworth,  than  it  now 
is  in  reaching  Kentucky.  For  a  poor  rector  like  him  to  buy  and 
to  get  books,  was  a  thing  almost  impracticable ;  and  to  borrow, 
such  as  he  wanted,  was  impossible.  Few  knights  of  the  shire  had 
libraries  so  good  as  may  now  universally  be  found  in  a  servant's 
hall,  or  in  the  back  parlour  of  a  small  shopkeeper.  An  esquire 
passed  among  his  neighbours  for  a  great  scholar,  if  Hudibras, 
and  Baker's  Chronicles,  Tarlton's  Jests,  and  the  Seven  Champions 
of  Christendom,  lay  in  his  hall  window  among  his  fishing  rods  and 
guns.  Many  lords  of  manors,  in  point  of  education,  differed  but 
very  little  from  their  menial  servants ;  and  heirs  of  estates  often 
had  no  better  tutors  than  grooms  and  gamekeepers,  and  scarce 
attained  learning  enough  to  sign  their  names  to  a  mittimus. 
Their  chief  serious  employment  was  the  care  of  their  property. 
They  examined  samples  of  grain,  handled  pigs,  and,  on  market 
days,  made  bargains  over  a  tankard  with  corn  merchants  and 
drovers.  Their  chief  jDleasures  were  commonly  derived  from  field 
sports,  and  from  an  unrefined  sensuality.  Their  oaths,  coarse 
jests,  and  scurrilous  terms  of  abuse  were  uttered  with  the  broadest 
accent  of  their  province  ;  while  the  litter  of  their  farm-yards 
gathered  under  the  windows  of  their  bed-chambers,  and  cabbages 
and  gooseberry  bushes  grew  up  to  their  very  doors.     These  were 


AGE  2G.]  NATIONAL  AFFAIRS.  Ill 

the  kind  of  country  neighbours  which  Samuel  Wesley  was  privi- 
leged to  have  for  a  period  of  more  than  forty  years. 

The  state  of  the  common  people  may  be  judged  from  the  state 
of  those  above  them.  Eour-fifths  of  them,  throughout  the  country, 
were  employed  in  agriculture ;  and  four  shillings  a- week  were 
fair  agricultural  wages.  There  were  few  articles,  important  to 
the  working  man,  as  coffee,  tea,  sugar,  &c.,  the  price  of  which 
was  not  double  what  it  is  at  present.  Beer  was  much  cheaper  ; 
and  meat  was  also  cheaper ;  but  the  latter  was  even  then  so  dear 
that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  families  scarcely  knew  the  taste  of 
it.  Bread,  such  as  is  now  given  to  the  inmates  of  a  workhouse, 
was  then  seldom  seen,  even  on  the  trencher  of  a  shopkeeper  or  of 
a  yeoman.  The  great  majority  of  the  nation  lived  almost  entirely 
on  rye,  oats,  and  barley.  Such  was  the  general  condition  of 
Samuel  Wesley's  Lincolnshire  parishioners. 

We  refrain,  at  present,  from  any  lengthy  remarks  respecting 
the  religion  and  morals  of  the  nation.  It  may  be  added,  however, 
that  the  manners  of  the  people  were  exceedingly  coarse  and 
vicious.  The  discipline  of  workshops,  of  schools,  and  of  private 
families  was  harsh  to  an  extreme.  The  implacability  of  hostile 
factions  was  such  as,  at  the  present  day,  we  can  scarcely  conceive. 
Sufferers  by  the  law  experienced  but  little  mercy.  Put  an 
offender  in  the  pillory,  and  it  was  well  if  he  escaped  with  his  life 
from  the  showers  of  stones  and  brick-bats  thrown  at  him.  Tie 
him  to  the  cart's  tail,  and  the  crowd  pressed  round  him,  begging 
the  hangman  to  give  it  to  the  fellow  well,  and  to  make  him  howl. 
Fights,  compared  with  which  a  boxing  match  is  a  refined  and 
humane  spectacle,  were  among  the  favourite  diversions  of  a  large 
part  of  the  town.  Multitudes  assembled  to  see  gladiators  hack 
each  other  in  pieces ;  and  shouted  with  delight  when  one  of  the 
combatants  lost  a  finger  or  an  eye.  Prisons  were  hells  on  earth, 
and  seminaries  of  every  disease  and  of  every  crime. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  multiply  such  facts  as  these ;  but 
enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  when  Samuel  Wesley  began 
his  ministry,  England  and  the  English  people  were  very  different 
from  what  they  are  at  present.  The  Christian  minister  even  now 
has  difficulties  and  discouragements ;  but,  as  a  rule,  he  is  almost  a 
stranger  to  the  trials  encountered  by  young  Wesley.  For  a  penny 
he  has  his  newspaper  every  morning ;  and  for  a  trifle  more  he  has 
his  monthly  review  and  magazine.     He  lives  in  an  age  when  even 


112  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I688. 

the  poorest  of  his  parishioners  will  hardly  deign  to  ride  in  the 
stage-waggon,  but  all  aspire  to  be  conveyed  by  the  swift  railway 
train.  Books  are  published  by  millions  ;  and  circulating  libraries? 
in  one  shape  or  in  another,  may  be  found  in  almost  every  hamlet 
of  the  land.  Education  is  general;  and  not  merely  country  squires, 
but  country  peasants,  study  classical  and  scientific  books.  Work 
is  plentiful ;  and,  except  in  a  few  bucolic  districts,  wages  are  suf- 
ficient to  make  the  poor  man's  cottage  a  neat  and  a  happy  home. 
It  was  otherwise  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  years  ago,  when 
Samuel  Wesley,  a  young  man  of  twenty-six  years  of  age,  first 
entered  upon  the  office  and  duties  of  a  clergyman  of  the  Church 
of  England. 

[This  chapter  is  chiefly  taken  from  Macaulay,  from  Knight,  from  the  Encyclo- 
pcedia  Brita7inica,  and  from  Baxter's  Life  and  Times.] 


CHAPTEH  VI. 

OEDINATION  AND  MARRIAGE. — 1688-1689. 

Mr  Wesley  took  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  at  Oxford  on  the 
19th  of  June  1688.  Exactly  seven  weeks  afterwards,  he  was 
ordained  a  deacon  of  the  Church  of  England.  He  writes  :  "  I  tar- 
ried in  Exeter  College,  though  I  met  with  some  hardships  I  had 
before  been  unacquainted  with,  till  I  was  of  standing  sufficient  to 
take  my  Bachelor's  degree ;  and  not  being  able  to  subsist  there 
afterwards,  I  came  to  London  during  the  time  of  my  Lord  Bishop 
of  London's  suspension  by  the  High  Commission,  and  was  insti- 
tuted into  deacon's  orders  by  my  Lord  Bishop  of  Rochester,  at  his 
palace  at  Bromley,  August  7,  1688."  It  is  an  incident  worth 
remembering,  that  Mr  Wesley  left  Oxford  during  the  trial  of  the 
seven  bishops,  and  was  ordained  amid  the  intense  excitement 
which  arose  out  of  that  event. 

In  the  above  quotation  he  makes  mention  of  his  "  hardships" 
in  Exeter  College.  We  are  left  to  guess  what  the  hardships  were ; 
but  remembering  that,  when  he  entered,  all  the  money  he  had  was 
only  about  forty  shillings, — remembering  that  he  remained  in  the 
college  for  nearly  five  years, — and  remembering  that,  for  that 
length  of  time,  he  had  to  support  himself  by  serving  others,  and 
that  the  only  assistance  he  received  from  his  friends  was  a  five 
shillings  piece,  there  can  be  no  difficulty  in  perceiving  that  his 
collegiate  life  must  have  been  no  ordinary  struggle. 

Mr  Wesley  was  ordained  a  deacon  at  Bromley  by  the  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  the  well-known  Dr  Thomas  Sprat.  This  prelate  was  a 
man  of  considerable  eminence.  He  began  life  as  a  fellow  of  Wad- 
ham  College,  Oxford,  where,  on  the  death  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  he 
gave  a  specimen  of  his  poetical  talents  in  an  "  Ode  to  the  Happy 
Memory  of  the  late  Lord  Protector."  He  subsequently  became  a 
fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  chaplain  to  George,  Duke  of  Bucking- 

H 


114  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lG89. 

ham,  chaplain  in  ordinary  to  King  Charles  XL,  canon  of  \^indsor, 
Dean  of  Westminster,  clerk  of  the  closet  to  King  James  II.,  dean 
of  the  Chapel  Royal,  and  Bishop  of  Rochester.  He  was  an  intunate 
friend  of  the  poet  Cowley,  who,  by  his  last  will,  left  to  his  care  his 
printed  works  and  MSS.  His  preferment  to  the  bench  of  bishops 
was  considered  as  a  reward  for  the  service  he  rendered  in  drawing 
up,  at  the  command  of  King  Charles  II.,  an  account  of  the  Rye 
House  Plot.  His  known  sympathy  for  James  II.  brought  upon 
him  a  large  amount  of  popular  indignation  ;  so  much  so  that,  at 
the  trial  of  the  seven  bishops,  while  the  air  rang  with  loud  huzzas 
for  the  persecuted  j^relates,  it  was  also  filled  with  execrations 
against  Sprat  and  his  fawning  associates.  Strangely  enough,  it 
was  just  at  this  time  that  Sprat  ordained  Samuel  Wesley.  An 
odd  incident  happened  four  years  afterwards.  His  principles  being 
so  well  known,  Bishop  Sprat  was  involved  with  others  in  an  in- 
formation laid  before  the  Privy  Council  of  a  pretended  conspiracy 
for  restoring  James  II.  Sprat  was  arrested,  and  kept  under  a 
strict  guard  for  eleven  days,  but  effectually  cleared  himself  of  the 
accusation.  He  was  so  much  affected,  however,  by  the  danger  to 
which  it  had  exposed  him,  that,  to  the  end  of  his  days,  he  com- 
memorated his  deliverance  by  an  annual  thanksgiving.  He  died  in 
1718.  Though  somewhat  of  a  time-server,  he  was  a  man  of  great 
ability.  Dunton,  in  his  "  Characters  of  Eminent  Conformists,"  is 
most  extravagant  in  praising  him  :  his  style  is  matchless,  his  wit 
flowing,  his  thoughts  deep,  and  his  poems  beautiful. 

"  Nature  rejoiced  beneath  his  charming  power; 
His  hicky  hand  made  everything  a  flower. 
On  earth  the  king  of  wits,  (they  are  but  few,) 
And,  though  a  bishop,  yet  a  preacher  too." 

Samuel  Wesley  was  ordained  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  England, 
by  Dr  Compton,  in  St  Andrew's  Church,  Holborn,  on  February  24, 
1689.  This  was  twelve  days  after  the  Prince  and  Princess  of 
Orange  were  declared  by  parliament  to  be  King  and  Queen  of 
Great  Britain. 

Compton  was  a  man  even  more  remarkable  than  Sprat.  He  was 
the  youngest  son  of  Spencer,  Earl  of  Northampton.  On  leaving 
the  university,  he  went  to  the  Continent,  for  the  purpose  of  per- 
fecting himself  in  the  modern  languages.  After  the  restoration 
of  Charles  II.,  he  became  cornet  of  a  regiment  of  horse ;  but  soon 
resigned  his  commission,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of  the 


ACxE  2G.]  ORDINATION  AND  MAERIAGE.  Ho 

church.  He  successively  became  Canon-commoner  of  Christ- 
Church  College,  Eector  of  Cottenham,  Master  of  St  Crosse's 
Hospital,  Canon  of  Christ-Church,  Bishop  of  Oxford,  Dean  of  the 
Royal  Chapel,  and  finally  Bishop  of  the  diocese  of  London.  He 
was  intrusted  with  the  education  of  the  two  princesses,  Mary  and 
Anne,  whom  he  also  afterwards  married  to  the  Princes  of  Orange 
and  Denmark  ;  and  their  firmness  in  the  Protestant  religion  wais 
in  a  ficreat  measure  owino;  to  his  instructions.  For  his  steadfast 
opposition  to  Popery,  and  for  refusing  to  become  an  instrument  of 
ecclesiastical  tyranny  among  the  clergy  of  his  diocese,  he  was  sus- 
pended, by  James  II.,  from  his  Episcopal  office,  his  name  was 
struck  from  the  list  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  he  was  deprived  of 
his  office  as  Dean  of  the  Royal  Chapel.  His  suspension  was  the 
reason  why  Samuel  Wesley  was  ordained  a  deacon  by  the  chame- 
leon-like Dr  Sprat.  On  the  invasion  of  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
he  was  restored  to  his  Episcopal  functions  ;  he  performed  the  cere- 
mony of  crowning  King  William  and  Queen  Mary ;  was  appointed 
one  of  the  Commissioners  for  revising  the  Liturgy  ;  and  laboured 
with  much  zeal  to  reconcile  Dissenters  to  the  Established  Church. 
His  spirit  of  moderation  made  him  unpopular  with  the  clergy,  and, 
in  all  probability,  checked  his  further  promotion.  He  died  in  the 
same  year  as  Bishop  Sprat,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one.  Through  the 
whole  of  a  long  life,  he  was  exemplary  in  his  moral  conduct,  and 
displayed  the  manners  of  a  gentleman.  He  was  a  warm  friend,  a 
generous  patron,  a  respectable  writer,  a  faithful  bishop,  but  a  dull 
and  inanimate  preacher.  Such  were  the  two  prelates  who  ordained 
Samuel  Wesley. 

At  the  time  that  Mr  Wesley  entered  upon  his  ministerial  career, 
there  were,  in  the  English  Church,  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
divines  that  it  has  ever  had.  There  was  Stillingfleet,  Bishop  of  Wor- 
cester, a  prelate  of  great  learning  and  piety,  and  whose  "  Origines 
Sacrse"  and  "  Origines  Britannicse"  are  still  held  in  high  esteem. 
There  was  Tillotson,  the  son  of  a  Yorkshire  clothier,  who  was  raised 
to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  and  whose  sermons,  when  published,  were 
regarded  as  a  standard  of  finished  oratory,  and  still  rank  among 
the  most  popular  in  the  English  language.  There  was  the  godly 
Thomas  Kenn,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  the  well-known  author  of 
the  "Morning  and  Evening  Hymns."  There  was  William  Sancroft, 
who  took  an  active  part  in  repairing  St  Paul's  Cathedral  after  the 
dilapidations  of  the  civil  wars,  and  in  rebuilding  it  after  the  great 


]1G  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lCS9. 

fire  of  London;  one  of  the  seven  bishops,  who,  for  bearding  King- 
James  II.,  was  committed  to  the  Tower  ;  and  who,  for  refusing  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  King  William,  lost  his  archbishopric  ;  a  timor- 
ous, but  well-meaning  man,  laborious  in  his  studies,  and  who  is  said 
to  have  written  more  with  his  own  hand  than  any  other  person  of 
his  time.  There  was  Robert  South,  a  man  of  immense  talents, 
though  of  harsh  temper  and  ungoverned  wit.  There  was  Gilbert 
Burnet,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  a  most  industrious  writer,  and  author 
of  the  "  History  of  the  Reformation."  There  was  John  Sharp, 
Archbishop  of  York,  an  able  preacher,  and  the  author  of  seven 
volumes  of  valuable  sermons.  There  was  Thomas  Tennison,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  who  had  the  esteem  of  King  James,  at- 
tended Queen  Mary  during  her  last  moments,  faithfully  reproved 
King  William  for  his  immoral  practices,  and  officiated  at  the 
coronation  of  Queen  Anne  and  of  King  George  I., — an  able  op- 
ponent of  the  infidel  opinions  of  Hobbes  ;  a  defender  of  the  Esta- 
blished Church  against  Popery  ;  though  not  a  brilliant,  yet  a  clear 
and  argumentative  writer;  and  though  a  plain  yet  a  forcible 
preacher.  There  was  William  Beveridge,  Bishop  of  St  Asaph,  an 
eminent  Oriental  scholar,  a  distinguished  theologian,  and  a  man  of 
great  goodness  and  simplicity.  There  was  White  Kennett,  a  man 
of  great  literary  labours,  his  judgment  solid,  his  style  easy,  and 
who  died  Bishop  of  the  diocese  of  Peterborough.  There  was  Daniel 
Whitby,  profoundly  learned,  who,  in  1 703,  published  in  two  volumes 
folio  his  able  "  Commentary  on  the  New  Testament,"  the  result  of 
fifteen  years  of  close  application.  There  was  George  Hooper,  Bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  greatly  distinguished  both  as  a  writer  and 
divine.  William  Fleetwood,  Bishop  of  Ely,  an  active  prelate,  an 
eloquent  preacher,  and  a  learned,  industrious,  and  able  writer 
William  Derham,  the  able  author  of  "  Physico-Theology."  Wil- 
liam Lowth,  amiable  and  erudite,  and  the  father  of  the  bishop  of 
that  name.  Thomas  Wilson,  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man,  a  man  of 
respectable  scientific  and  classical  attainments,  but  distinguished 
most  for  his  Christian  benevolence.  Others  might  be  mentioned, 
and,  besides  these,  a  large  number  of  other  clergy,  who,  though 
not  so  eminent  for  their  learning  and  literary  productions,  were 
quite  equal  for  unassuming  and  zealous  piety. 

It  is  scarce  credible  that,  with  such  bishops  at  the  head  of  the 
English  Church,  there  should  not  be  hundreds  of  quiet,  godly, 
earnest,  useful  ministers,  acting  under  them,  all  of  them  of  the 


AGE  26.]  ORDINATION  AND  MAERIAGE.  117 

same  sterling  character  as  Samuel  Wesley.  It  is  a  great  mistake 
to  imagine  that,  up  to  the  time  of  Samuel  Wesley's  sons,  John  and 
Charles,  the  English  clergy  were,  almost  without  exception,  ignor- 
ant, indolent,  heterodox,  worldly,  and  wicked.  Doubtless  there 
were  a  large  number  of  such  men  ;  but  there  were  likewise  a  large 
number  of  another  and  much  better  class. 

At  the  same  period,  the  Dissenters  also  had  a  considerable 
number  of  able  and  useful  preachers.  For  example,  there  was 
Daniel  Williams,  the  most  influential  Presbyterian  minister  of  his 
day ;  the  successor  of  Richard  Baxter  at  Pinner's  Hall,  the  author 
of  six  volumes  of  cumbrous  controversy,  and  the  founder  of  the 
magnificent  library  of  Eed  Cross  Street.  There  was  Daniel  Bur- 
gess, extremely  popular  on  account  of  his  quaint  and  familiar  style 
of  pulj)it  oratory.  There  was  Benjamin  Keach,  once  sentenced 
to  stand  in  the  pillory  for  publishing  his  "  Child's  Instructor," 
and  whose  "Travels  of  True  Godliness"  and  "Scripture  Meta- 
phors" have  been  read  by  myriads;  a  man  whom  Dun  ton 
represents  as  mounted  upon  an  Apocalyptic  Beast,  Avith  Babylon 
before  him,  Zion  behind  him,  and  a  hundred  thousand  bulls  and 
bears  roaring  and  ramping  round  about  him.  There  was  Vincent 
Alsop,  a  man  of  piety  and  worth,  with  a  glowing  fancy  and  a 
lively  wit.  There  was  Matthew  Henry,  whose  labours  as  a  preacher 
were  almost  incessant,  and  who  yet  found  time  to  write  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  useful  Expositions  of  the  Holy  Bible  ever 
published.  There  was  Matthew  Sylvester,  a  man  of  "  godly  life 
and  great  ability  in  the  ministerial  work,"  to  whom,  as  an  in- 
timate friend,  Baxter  left  his  "  MS.  Narrative  of  his  Life  and 
Times."  And  there  were  also  still  surviving  not  a  few  of  the 
noble  Nonconformist  ministers  ejected  in  1662. 

As  Samuel  Wesley  was  not  only  a  Christian  minister,  but  like- 
wise an  author  of  considerable  eminence,  this  attempt  at  photo- 
graphing portraits  will  scarce  be  perfect,  without  a  passing  glance 
at  the  literary  and  other  celebrities,  who  were  flourishing  at  the 
time  of  Wesley's  ordination,  and  with  some  of  whom  he  ran  a 
literary  race. 

Robert  Harley,  Earl  of  Oxford,  was  just  rising  into  fame  and 
power,  and  preparing  the  way  for  the  high  position  which  he 
occupied  during  the  reign  of  Anne.  John  Churchill,  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  was  just  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  Bri- 
tish forces.     George  Byng,  the  celebrated  admiral,  was  beginning 


118  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lG90. 

to  disjjlay  the  bravery  and  the  naval  skill  for  which  he  is  still 
remembered.  John  EadclifFe,  the  renowned  physician,  had  recently 
removed  to  London,  where  he  received  from  King  William,  during 
the  first  six  years  of  his  reign,  nearly  eight  thousand  guineas  for 
his  professional  assistance.  Isaac  Newton,  the  unrivalled  philo- 
sopher, was  just  elected  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  Cam- 
bridge University.  Sir  Hans  Sloane  was  bringing  home  eight 
hundred  species  of  plants  from  the  West  Indies.  Kichard  Bent- 
ley,  the  son  of  a  Yorkshire  blacksmith,  had  just  removed  with  his 
pupil,  Stillingfleet's  son,  to  the  Oxford  University,  having  already 
evinced  his  amazing  powers  as  a  scholar  and  a  critic.  Matthew 
Prior  was  writing  his  poem  on  the  Deity.  Jonathan  Swift,  having 
lost  his  uncle,  and  being  almost  penniless,  was  applying,  by  the 
advice  of  his  mother,  to  the  celebrated  Sir  William  Temple  to 
afford  him  shelter,  and  to  find  him  bread.  William  Penn  was 
writing  his  prolix  "  Maxims  and  Eeflections  on  Human  Life."  Sir 
Godfrey  Kneller,  with  King  James  before  him,  was  painting  a 
portrait  of  that  monarch  at  the  very  moment  when  the  landing  of 
Prince  William  was  announced.  Grinling  Gibbons,  whom  Evelyn 
considers  the  greatest  of  all  sculptors,  was  at  the  zenith  of  his 
fame.  Sir  Christopher  Wren  was  building  St  Paul's  Cathedral. 
Dryden,  deprived  of  his  oflficial  emoluments  by  the  abdication  of 
King  James,  was  now  writing  for  bread,  and  producing  some  of 
the  finest  pieces  he  ever  published.  John  Locke,  whom  Dr  Watts 
describes  as  having  a  soul  wide  as  the  sea,  calm  as  the  night,  and 
bright  as  the  day,  was  finishing  his  immortal  "  Essay  on  the 
Human  Understanding."  And  Eobert  Boyle,  not  unworthy  to  be 
ranked  with  Lord  Bacon,  acquainted  with  the  whole  compass  of 
mathematical  sciences,  and  from  whose  works  may  be  deduced 
the  whole  system  of  natural  knowledge,  was,  as  usual,  regulating, 
by  a  thermometer,  the  quantity  of  clothes  he  ought  to  "wear. 

Such  were  some  of  the  illustrious  men  flourishing  at  this  pei'iod. 
We  shall  meet  with  others  farther  on. 

Mr  Wesley's  first  ecclesiastical  appointment  was  a  curacy,  with 
an  income  of  £28  a-year.  He  was  then  appointed  chajjlain  on 
board  a  man-of-war,  where  his  salary  was  at  the  rate  of  £70 
a-year,  and  where  he  began  his  poem  on  the  Life  of  Christ.  He 
then  obtained  another  curacy  in  London,  his  ecclesiastical  income 
during  the  two  years'  service  that  he  rendered,  being  £30  per 
annum,  an  amount  which  he  doubled  by  his  industry  and  writings. 


AGE  28.]  ORDINATION  AND  MAEEIAGE.  119 

It  was  while  lie  held  this  appointment  that  he  married,  he  and  his 
wife  living  in  lodgings,  until  after  the  birth  of  their  first-born, 
Samuel. 

The  young  lady,  who  became  Mr  Wesley's  wife,  was  Susanna 
Annesley,  the  daughter  of  Dr  Annesley,  one  of  the  leading  Non- 
conformist ministers  of  London. 

Dr  Annesley  was  born  at  Haseley  in  Warwickshire,  in  the  year 
1620.  His  father  was  cousin  of  the  Earl  of  Anglesea,  and  died 
when  Samuel  was  but  four  years  of  age.  His  education  devolved 
on  his  pious  mother,  who  brought  him  up  in  the  fear  of  God. 
From  his  early  childhood  his  heart  was  set  on  preaching ;  and,  to 
qualify  himself  for  that  sacred  work,  he  began,  when  he  was  only 
five  or  six  years  old,  seriously  to  read  the  Bible  ;  and  such  was  his 
ardour  that  he  bound  himself  to  read  twenty  chapters  daily,  a 
practice  which  he  continued  to  the  end  of  life.  Though  a  child, 
be  never  varied  from  his  purpose  to  become  a  preacher ;  nor  was 
he  discouraged  by  a  dream,  in  which  "  he  thought  he  was  a  min- 
ister, and  was  sent  for  by  the  Bishop  of  London  to  be  burnt  as  a 
martyr."  At  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  went  to  Queen's  College, 
Oxford,  and  there  took  the  degree  of  LL.D.  When  he  was  twenty- 
four  he  became  chaplain  of  his  Majesty's  ship  Globe,  under  the 
command  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick.  Not  liking  a  seafaring  life, 
he  left  the  navy,  and  settled  at  Cliff  in  Kent,  in  the  place  of  a 
minister  who  had  been  sequestered  for  his  scandalous  living ;  but 
of  whom  the  rude  and  ignorant  parishioners  were  so  extremely 
fond,  that  when  Annesley,  his  successor,  first  went  among  them; 
they  assailed  him  with  spits,  forks,  and  stones,  threatening  to  take 
away  his  life.  In  a  few  years  his  labours  had  surprising  success, 
and  the  people  were  greatly  reformed. 

In  July  1648,  he  was  called  to  London  to  preach  the  fast  ser- 
mon before  the  House  of  Commons,  which,  by  imperial  order,  was 
printed.  In  1652,  he  relinquished  his  living  at  Cliff,  which  was 
worth  £400  a- year,  and  became  minister  of  the  Church  of  St 
John  the  Apostle  in  London.  Five  years  after  he  was  made  lec- 
turer at  St  Paul's,  and,  in  1658,  became  vicar  and  "soul- servant," 
as  he  terms  himself,  of  St  Giles's,  Cripplegate.  He  now  had  two 
of  the  largest  congregations  in  the  city.  The  Cripplegate  living 
was  worth  £700  per  annum. 

With  two  thousand  other  ministers  he  was  ejected  by  the  Act 
of  Uniformity,  and  had  his  fair  share  of  subsequent  persecution. 


1 20  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l690. 

One  magistrate,  while  signing  a  warrant  to  apprehend  him,  dropped 
down  dead. 

Samuel  Annesley  was  a  large-hearted  man,  and  was  extensively 
useful.  He  had  the  care  of  all  the  Nonconformist  churches  in  the 
capital  upon  him  ;  and  was  the  chief  instrument  in  the  education 
and  subsistence  of  several  ministers,  of  whose  useful  labours  the 
church  would  otherwise  have  been  deprived. 

In  1672,  when  King  Charles,  for  the  sake  of  the  Papists,  un- 
constitutionally suspended  for  a  little  while  the  penal  laws  in 
matters  of  religion,  Dr  Annesley  licensed  a  meeting-house  in  St 
Helen's  Place,  Bishopsgate  Street,  where  he  raised  a  large  and 
flourishing  church,  of  which  he  continued  the  pastor  until  his 
death.  He  was  the  main  support  of  the  morning  lecture,  and 
always  laid  aside  a  tenth  part  of  his  income  for  charitable  pur- 
poses. He  had  a  weekly  meeting  of  ministers  in  his  vestry  at  St 
Helen's  Place ;  and,  once  a  month,  there  were  Latin  disputations 
upon  theology ;  but,  as  these  engendered  heated  debates  among 
the  ministers,  they  were  dropped.  In  the  same  meeting-house  at 
St  Helen's  Place,  Edmund  Calamy  was  ordained  in  1694,  his 
being  the  first  public  ordination  among  the  Dissenters  for  more 
than  thirty  years.  Dr  Annesley  and  five  other  ministers  took 
part  in  the  ordination  service,  which  lasted  nearly  nine  hours, 
from  before  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  past  six  o'clock  at  night. 
During  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life  he  had  uninterrupted  peace 
of  spirit,  arising  from  an  uninterrupted  assurance  of  God's  for- 
giving love.  He  closed  his  useful  ministry,  of  more  than  fifty- 
five  years' continuance,  December  31st,  1696.  His  death  occurred 
in  Spittal  Yard,  and  he  lies  interred  in  the  burial-ground  of  St 
Leonard's,  Shoreditch.  His  fimeral  sermon  was  preached  by  the 
Rev.  Daniel  Williams,  and,  in  an  enlarged  form,  was  published  by 
Dunton  in  1697,  making  a  small  volume  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pages.  WilHams  states  in  the  biography,  that  Annesley  was  of 
so  hale  and  hardy  a  constitution,  as  to  endure  the  coldest  weather 
without  using  hat,  gloves,  or  fire.  Por  many  years  he  seldom 
drank  anything  but  water,  and,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  he  could 
read  the  smallest  print  without  spectacles.  He  was  an  eminently 
useful  man,  and,  in  most  things,  a  pattern  worthy  of  imitation.  A 
short  time  before  he  died  his  joy  was  such  that  he  exclaimed,  "  I 
cannot  contain  it.  What  manner  of  love  is  this  to  a  poor  worm  ! 
I  cannot  express  the  thousandth  part  of  the  praise  due  to  Christ. 


AGE  28.]  ORDINATION  AND  MAEKIAGE.  121 

I'll  praise  Thee,  and  rejoice  that  there  are  others  that  can  praise 
Thee  better!" 

The  celebrated  Richard  Baxter,  who  was  no  eulopjist,  remarks  : 
—  "Dr  Annesley  is  a  most  sincere,  godly,  humble  man, — an 
Israelite  indeed :  one  that  may  be  said  to  be  sanctified  from  the 
womb."  Dunton,  his  son-in-law,  says — "  He  was  a  man  of  won- 
derful piety  and  humility.  The  great  business  and  the  pleasure 
of  his  life  was  to  persuade  sinners  back  to  God.  His  Nonconfor- 
mity created  him  many  troubles ;  but  they  never  altered  the 
goodness  and  cheerfulness  of  his  humour."  Daniel  Defoe  was 
one  of  his  congregation,  and  wrote  an  elegy  respecting  him,  which 
Dunton  published.     Defoe,  speaking  of  his  early  piety,  says  : — 

"  His  pious  course  with  childhood  he  began, 
Aud  was  his  Maker's  sooner  than  his  own  : 
The  heavenly  book  he  made  his  only  school — 
In  youth  his  study,  and  in  age  his  rule. 
A  Moses,  for  humility  and  zeal ; 
For  innocence,  a  true  Nathaniel ; 
Faithful  as  Abraham,  or  the  truer  spies ; 
No  man  more  honest,  and  but  few  so  wise  : 
Humility  was  his  darling  grace, 
And  honesty  sat  regent  in  his  face. 
A  heavenly  patience  did  his  mind  possess — 
Cheerful  in  pain,  and  thankful  in  distress." 

Dr  Annesley  had  a  large  family.  Dunton  relates  that  when  Dr 
Manton  was  baptizing  one  of  Annesley's  children,  he  was  asked 
how  many  more  he  had  ?  he  replied,  he  believed  it  was  either  two 
dozen  or  a  quarter  of  a  hundred.  Of  these  four  or  five-and-twenty 
young  Annesleys,  however,  Dr  Clark  could  find  not  more  than  the 
names  of  seven — viz.,  Samuel,  Benjamin,  Judith,  Sarah,  Ann, 
Elizabeth,  and  Susanna.  Samuel  went  abroad  in  the  service  of 
the  East  India  Company,  accumulated  a  considerable  fortune,  and 
intended  to  return  to  England ;  but,  all  at  once,  he  suddenly  dis- 
appeared, and  no  account  was  ever  received,  either  of  his  person 
or  of  his  property.  The  probability  is  that  he  was  robbed  and 
murdered.*     Benjamin  Annesley  was  "  an  ingenuous  youth,"  and 

*  About  the  year  1720,  Samuel  Annesley,  strangely  enough,  employed  his 
brother-in-law,  Samuel  Wesley,  to  act  as  his  agent  in  England  ;  and  the  result 
was  a  serious  quarrel.  Annesley  charged  him  with  having  received  sums  of 
money  for  which  he  had  never  accounted,  and  for  having  laid  out  moneys  con- 
trary to  explicit  orders.  Mrs  Wesley  took  up  the  matter,  and,  in  a  long  letter, 
defended  her  husband  against  the  attacks  of  her  brother.  She  says,  Mr  Wesley 
has  orders  for  the  money  laid  out ;  and  that,  though  his  expenses  had  been  great, 


122  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1690. 

was  appointed  an  executor  of  his  father's  will.  Judith  was  emi- 
nently pious,  and  loved  good  books  more  than  other  young  ladies 
loved  fine  clothes.  She  was  exceedingly  beautiful ;  and  refused 
to  marry  a  gentleman  of  splendid  fortune  because  he  was  addicted 
to  his  cups.  Of  Sarah,  we  find  no  information.  Ann  was  a  wit, 
and  was  as  fine  a  woman  as  nature  and  art  ever  formed.  She 
married  Mr  James  Fremantle  ;  and  Dunton  says,  she  was  the  only 
person  he  ever  knew  whom  an  estate  made  more  humble.  Her 
life  was  one  continued  act  of  tenderness,  wit,  and  piety.  Elizabeth 
Annesley  will  be  mentioned  hereafter.  Susanna  became  the  wife 
of  Samuel  Wesley. 

Having  sketched  the  life  of  the  father  of  Susanna  Wesley,  a 
few  lines  must  be  devoted  to  her  mother.  It  is  a  remarkable 
fact,  that  as  the  father  of  Samuel  Wesley's  mother  was  named 
John  White,  so  the  father  of  Susanna  Wesley's  mother  was  named 
John  White  also.  Both  of  them  were  men  of  mark.  John  White, 
"  the  Patriarch  of  Dorchester,"  is  brought  before  the  reader  in 
Chapter  II,     The  other  John  White,  the  grandfather  of  Susanna 

they  were  honest.  Mr  Wesley,  in  attending  to  Mr  Annesley's  business,  had  been 
compelled  to  be  much  from  home,  and,  therefore,  had  been  compelled  to  hire  a 
curate  to  supply  his  place.  Besides,  Annesley  had  promised  him  a  commission 
for  business  done  on  his  account  during  the  three  years  Wesley  sat  in  Convocation, 
but  the  commission  had  not  been  paid.  Mrs  Wesley  proposed  to  refer  all  their 
disputes  to  arbitration ;  and  says,  that  if  Mr  Wesley  is  found  to  be  in  Mr  Annesley's 
debt,  both  she  and  her  husband  are  quite  willing  for  him  to  sequester  the  Ep- 
worth  living  in  payment.  Annesley  had  alleged  that  the  Epworth  living  was  worth 
£300  a-year,  and  that,  on  account  of  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  maintenance, 
this  was  equal  to  a  living  of  £1000  a-year  in  London  and  its  immediate  neighbour- 
hood. Mrs  Wesley  says,  "  it  may  full  as  truly  be  said  that  the  Epworth  living  is 
£10,000  as  £300 ;  and  even  were  it  £300,  there  is  no  such  difference  in  the  price 
of  provision  as  to  justify"  Annesley's  computation.  In  fact,  the  living  did  not 
yield  them,  in  clear  money,  more  than  £130  a-year;  and,  all  things  considered,  it 
was  quite  as  costly  to  live  at  Epworth  as  it  was  to  live  in  London.  Mrs  Wesley 
then  declares  that  her  husband  challenges  the  whole  world  to  prove  him  a  knave  ; 
that  she  conceals  the  wants  of  her  family  from  him  as  much  as  possible,  because, 
if  he  were  made  acquainted  with  each  particular,  he  would  hazard  his  health,  perhaps 
his  life,  in  riding  to  borrow  money,  rather  than  his  wife  and  his  children  should 
be  so  distressed.  She  adds — "  He  hath  not  deceived  you ;  and,  to  say  the  truth, 
among  all  his  wants  sincerity  is  none.  I  have  not  reason  to  complain  of  his  being 
deceitful,  but  have  often  blamed  him  for  speaking  his  mind  too  freely.  You  think 
him  too  zealous  for  the  party  he  fancies  in  the  right,  and  that  he  has  unluckily 
to  do  with  the  opposite  faction.  Mr  Wesley  is  not  factious.  He  is  zealous  in  a 
good  cause,  as  every  one  ought  to  be  ;  but  the  furthest  from  being  a  party  man 
of  any  man  in  the  world."  The  whole  of  this  very  long  and  painfully-interesting 
letter  may  be  read  in  the  Wesleyan  2'imes  for  January  15,  1866. 


AGE  28.]  ORDINATLON  AND  MAKEIAGE.  123 

Wesley,  is  too  important  a  character  to  be  overlooked.  He  was 
the  son  of  Henry  White,  of  Heylan,  in  Pembrokeshire,  where  he 
was  born,  June  29,  1590,  He  entered  Jesus  College,  Oxford, 
when  about  seventeen  years  of  age ;  and,  after  completing  his 
studies,  was  admitted  to  the  Middle  Temple,  and,  in  due  time, 
became  a  member  of  the  Bar,  and  a  bencher  of  that  society.  While 
a  barrister,  he  was  much  employed  by  the  Puritans  in  the  purchase 
of  impropriations,  which  were  to  be  given  to  those  of  their  own 
party.  In  1640,  he  was  elected  Member  of  Parliament  for  the 
borough  of  South wark.  He  now  joined  in  all  the  proceedings 
which  led  to  the  overthrow  of  the  Established  Church.  He  was 
appointed  chairman  of  the  Committee  for  Eeligion,  and  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines.  In  a  speech  of 
his,  made  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  published  in  1641,  he 
contends  that  the  office  of  bishop  and  presbyter  is  the  same  ;  and 
that  the  offices  of  deacons,  chancellors,  vicars,  surrogates,  and 
registrars,  are  all  of  human  origin,  and  ought  to  be  abolished,  as 
being  altogether  superfluous  and  of  no  service  to  the  Church.  He 
says  that  Episcopacy  had  been  intrusted  with  the  care  of  souls  for 
more  than  eighty  years ;  and  now,  as  a  consequence,  nearly  four- 
fifths  of  the  churches  throughout  the  kingdom  were  held  by  idle 
or  scandalous  ministers.  He  alleges  that,  even  during  the  present 
parliament,  the  House  of  Commons  and  its  committees  had  been 
furnished  with  abundant  evidence  that  it  was  of  no  use  to  report 
"scandalous  ministers"  to  their  bishops,  for  they  received  no  cen- 
sure, save  a  harmless  admonition  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the 
bishops  happened  to  discover  a  godly  and  le'arned  preacher  within 
the  limits  of  their  diocese,  they  did  their  utmost  to  scatter  his 
congregation,  and  to  expel  him  from  his  church.  He  admits  that 
some  of  the  bishops  are  good  men  ;  but  the  bishops  who  are  good 
men,  are  all  bad  bishops, — a  sufficient  proof,  in  his  estimation,  that 
the  very  office  is  itself  a  curse. 

The  speech,  from  which  the  above  is  taken,  fills  fourteen  small 
quarto  pages,  is  full  of  texts  of  Scripture,  and  as  dry  as  a  lawyer's 
eloquence  could  make  it. 

As  already  stated,  John  White  was  appointed  chairman  of  the 
Committee  for  Religion.  It  was  the  duty  of  that  committee  to 
receive  all  petitions  of  parishioners  against  their  pastors,  with  lists 
of  ministerial  misdemeanours.  In  1643,  one  hundred  examples 
of  those  scandalous  clergy  were  drawn  up  by  White,  and  were 


124  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l690. 

published  in  a  book,  entitled,  "  The  First  Century  of  Scandalous, 
Malignant  Priests."  In  the  preface.  White  says,  "  The  ensuing 
summary  declaration  of  the  grounds  whereupon  Parliament  had 
proceeded  against  divers  ministers  to  sequester  their  benefices  from 
them,  and  place  in  their  room  godly  and  learned  preachers  of  the 
Word  of  God,  may  serve  many  excellent  purposes — as  1,  To  show 
that  the  Episcopal  form  of  church  government  is  evil,  and  that 
parliament  had  good  cause  to  abolish  it  ;  2,  That  the  bishops  had 
not  only  neglected  their  duties,  but  had  appointed  to  benefices 
drunkards,  whoremongers,  and  adulterers  ;  3,  The  book  will  show 
what  sort  of  men  the  clergy  are  who  favour  the  king  ;  and  4,  The 
cause  of  the  general  ignorance  and  debauchery  of  the  gentry  and 
people  of  this  kingdom." 

White  then  gives  the  one  hundred  examples  of  scandalous  par- 
sons. These  examples  now  lie  before  us,  but  they  are  too  gross 
and  defiling  to  be  reprinted.  The  curious  reader,  anxious  to  know 
what  they  are,  may  find  them  in  the  British  Museum,  bound  up 
in  a  volume,  given  to  the  Museum  by  George  III.  The  pamphlet 
is  quarto,  and  contains  fifty-seven  pages.  White  promised  to  pub- 
lish a  "  Second  Century  "  of  cases,  but  he  either  was  unable  to  find 
sufficient  materials,  or  perhaps  his  intention  was  frustrated  by  his 
death,  which  occurred  a  few  months  after.  Eight  thousand  clergy 
Avere  ejected  from  their  livings  during  the  civil  wars,  on  the  ground 
of  heterodoxy,  viciousness  of  life,  superstition,  or  malignancy  against 
parliament :  but  White  has  given  the  character  of  one  hundred 
only.  Clarendon  says,  that  petitions  were  often  presented  by  a  few 
of  the  rabble,  and  against  the  general  sense  and  judgment  of  the 
parish.  He  avers  that  many  were  designated  "  scandalous  clergy," 
who  were  men  of  great  gravity  and  learning,  and  who  lived  the 
most  unblemished  lives.  He  adds,  that  White  was  "  a  grave  law- 
3-er,  but  notoriously  disaffected  to  the  Church."  Of  course  Claren- 
don knew  the  men,  but  his  party  feeling  was  such  that  what  he 
says  requires  to  be  received  with  caution.  * 

John  White  died  shortly  after  the  publication  of  his  "First 
Century  of  Scandalous,  Malignant  Priests,"  viz.,  on  the  29th  of 
January  ]  644,  and  was  buried  in  the  Temple  Church,  where  a 
marble  stone  was  afterwards  placed  upon  his  grave,  with  this  in- 
scription : — 

"  Here  Ij'eth  a  John,  a  burning,  shining  light, 
His  name,  life,  actions,  were  all  White." 


AGE  28.]  ORDINATION  AND  MAKRIAGE.  l'J5 

Such  was  the  grandfather  of  Susanna  Wesley.  Her  mother 
was  one  of  whom  but  very  little  has  been  left  on  record.  She 
was  a  woman  of  sincere  piety.  She  conscientiously  endeavoured 
to  bring  up  her  children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord.  She  was  greatly  loved  by  her  husband,  and  both  lie  buried 
in  the  same  sacred  grave. 

After  the  faithful  and  beautiful  portraiture  of  Susanna  Wesley, 
recently  published  by  the  Rev.  John  Kirk,  it  would  be  worse  than 
superfluous  to  relate  her  history  here.  We  wish  that  her  letters 
were  jDublished  in  a  collected  form,  not  only  because  of  their 
intrinsic  excellence,  but  also  because  they  would  help  to  depict 
her  refined  intellect  and  her  earnest  piety.  She  was  in  all 
respects  a  remarkable  woman.  Like  her  father,  she  was  godly 
from  childhood.  When  she  died,  in  1742,  her  sons  had  four 
verses  inscribed  on  her  tombstone,  teaching,  if  they  teach  any- 
thing, that  she  was  not  received  into  the  divine  favour  until  she 
attained  the  age  of  seventy.  This  is  a  monstrous  perversion  of 
facts,  and  can  only  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground  that  John  and 
Charles  Wesley  were  so  enamoured  of  their  blessed  and  newly- 
discovered  doctrines,  that  as  yet  they  felt  it  difficult  to  think  any 
one  to  be  scripturally  converted  except  those  who  had  obtained  a 
sense  of  pardon,  and  had  experienced  an  instantaneous  change  of 
heart,  under  circumstances  similar  to  their  own.  If  Susanna 
Wesley  was  not  converted  many  a  long  year  previous  to  her  death, 
and  previous  to  the  conversion  of  her  sons,  we  have  yet  to  learn 
what  conversion  is.  Having  read  her  letters  and  her  other  literary 
productions,  we  are  satisfied  that,  if  there  ever  was  a  sincere  and 
earnest  Christian,  she  was  one. 

Her  intellectual  was  as  remarkable  as  her  Christian  character. 
Let  any  one  read  her  writings,  and,  unless  he  is  blinded  with  pre- 
judice, he  will  willingly  acknowledge  that,  for  vigorous  thought, 
mental  discipline,  clearness  of  apprehension,  logical  acumen,  ex- 
tensive theological  knowledge,  purity  of  style,  and  force  of  utter- 
ance, Susanna  Wesley  has  few  superiors.  She  was  not  a  poetess, 
but,  if  such  language  may  be  used  concerning  a  lady,  she  was  an 
accomplished  scholar,  a  learned  student,  a  correct  philosopher, 
and  a  profound  divine.  Dr  A.  Clarke  observes,  "  She  appears  to 
have  had  the  advantage  of  a  liberal  education,  as  far  as  Latin, 
Greek,  and  French  enter  into  such  an  education."  Though  her 
knowledge  of  these  languages  might  be  far  from  perfect,  yet  the 


1  26  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l690. 

fact  itself  may  be  taken  as  an  indication  of  the  mental  energy  of 
her  character,  for  at  that  period  female  education  was  most  scan- 
dalously neglected.  Macaulay  writes,  "  The  literary  stores  of  the 
lady  of  the  manor  and  her  daughters  generally  consisted  of  a 
prayer-book  and  a  book  of  receipts.  The  English  women  of  that 
generation  were  decidedly  worse  educated  than  they  have  been  at 
any  other  time  since  the  revival  of  learning.  If  a  damsel  had  the 
least  smattering  of  literature  she  was  regarded  as  a  prodigy. 
Ladies  higlily  born,  highly  bred,  and  naturally  quick-witted,  were 
unable  to  write  a  line  in  their  mother  tongue  without  solecisms 
and  faults  of  spelling,  such  as  a  charity  girl  would  now  be 
ashamed  to  commit.  One  instance  will  suffice.  Queen  Mary  had 
good  natural  abilities,  had  been  educated  by  a  bishop,  was  fond  of 
history  and  poetry,  and  was  regarded  by  very  eminent  men  as  a 
superior  woman,  and  yet  there  is  in  the  library  of  the  Hague  a 
superb  English  Bible,  which  was  delivered  to  her  when  she  was 
crowned  in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  the  title  page  of  which  are 
these  words,  in  her  own  hand,  "  This  book  was  given  the  King 
and  I  at  our  crownation. — Maeie  E."  In  such  an  age  Susanna 
Annesley  acquired  an  education  embracing  in  its  compass  Latin, 
Greek,  and  French. 

We  pass  over  the  management  of  her  children,  and  simply  add 
that,  as  a  wife,  she  was  affectionate  and  obedient.  Writing  of  her 
husband,  after  they  had  been  more  than  thirty  years  married,  she 
says,  "  Since  I  have  taken  my  husband,  '  for  better  for  worse,'  I  '11 
take  my  residence  with  him  ;  '  where  he  lives  will  I  live,  and 
where  he  dies  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried.'  God  do  so 
unto  me,  and  more  also  if  aught  but  death  part  him  and  me." 

No  wonder  that  Samuel  Wesley  was  passionately  attached  to 
such  a  wife.  She  was  in  her  person  not  only  graceful  but  beauti- 
ful. Sir  Peter  Lely,  the  painter  of  the  "  beauties  "  of  his  age,  has 
left  a  portrait  of  her  sister  Judith,  representing  her  as  a  lady  of 
rare  charms  ;  and  yet  one  who  knew  them  both  has  said,  "  Beau- 
tiful as  Miss  Annesley  appears,  she  was  far  from  being  as  beautiful 
as  Mrs  Wesley."  If  her  husband  had  not  loved  and  respected 
her  as  much  as  she  loved  and  respected  him,  he  would  have  been 
unworthy  of  her.  Eour  years  after  their  marriage,  and  when 
cooped  up  in  the  miserable  little  parsonage  at  South  Ormsby,  Mr 
Wesley  published  his  "  Life  of  Christ,"  in  which  there  is  the  fol- 
lowing poetic  portrait  of  his  noble-hearted  wife,  and  of  the  sort  of 


AGE.  28.]  ORDINATION  AND  MAERIAGE.  ]  27 

life  tliey  lived  in  their  humble  hut,  near  the  shores  of  the  Gernian 
sea : — 

"  She  graced  my  humble  roof,  and  blest  my  life, 

Blest  me  by  a  far  greater  name  than  wife  ; 

Yet  still  I  bore  an  undisputed  sway, 

Nor  was't  her  task,  but  pleasure,  to  obey ; 

Scarce  thought,  much  less  could  act,  what  I  denied, 

In  our  low  house  there  was  no  room  for  pride ; 

Nor  need  I  e'er  direct  what  still  was  right, 

She  studied  my  convenience  and  delight. 

Nor  did  I  for  her  care  ungrateful  prove. 

But  only  used  my  power  to  show  my  love. 

Whate'er  she  asked  I  gave,  without  reproach  or  grudge, 

For  still  she  reason  asked,  and  I  was  judge. 

All  my  commands,  requests  at  her  fair  hands. 

And  her  requests  to  me  were  all  commands. 

To  others  thresholds  rarely  she'd  incline. 

Her  house  her  pleasure  was,  and  she  was  mine ; 

Rarely  abroad,  or  never,  but  with  me. 

Or  when  by  pity  called,  or  charity." 

Such  was  the  nuptial  life  of  Samuel  and  Susanna  Wesley, 
They  were  married  about  the  year  1689,  but  where  and  by  whom 
there  is  no  evidence  to  show.  For  about  forty-six  years  they 
bravely  battled  with  their  domestic  trials,  and,  after  a  seven  years' 
separation,  were,  in  1742,  reunited  in  that  happy  world,  where 
"  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling  and  the  weary  are  at  rest." 
"  No  man,"  says  Southey,  "  was  ever  more  suitably  mated  than 
Samuel  Wesley.  The  wife  whom  he  chose  was,  like  himself,  the 
child  of  a  man  eminent  among  the  Nonconformists,  and,  like  him- 
self, in  early  life  she  had  chosen  her  own  path.  She  had  examined 
the  controversy  between  the  Dissenters  and  the  Church  of  England 
with  conscientious  diligence,  and  satisfied  herself  that  the  schis- 
matics were  in  the  wrong.  She  had  reasoned  herself  into  Socin- 
ianisra,  from  which  her  husband  reclaimed  her.  She  was  an 
admirable  woman,  an  obedient  wife,  an  exemplary  mother,  and  a  fer- 
vent Christian.  The  marriage  was  blest  in  all  its  circumstances  ; 
it  was  contracted  in  the  prime  of  their  youth ;  it  was  fruitful  and 
death  did  not  divide  them  till  they  were  full  of  days." 

[The  facts  contained  in  this  chapter  have  been  gathered  from  Clarke's  Wesley 
Family;  Dunton's  Life  and  Errors;  Defoe's  Works;  Knight's  History  of  Eng- 
land ;  Baxter's  Life  and  Times;  Calamy's  Nonconformist  Memorials;  Calamy's 
Life  and  Times;  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion;  Williams's  Funeral  Sermon 
for  Annesley ;  Chambers's  Biographical  Dictionary ;  John  White's  Speech  in  the 
House  of  Commons  in  1641 ;  John  White's  Century  of  Scandalous  Priests,  Sec,  &c.] 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   "ATHENIAN   GAZETTE." — 1690-1695. 

In  1G91  or  thereabouts,  Mr  Wesley  was  appointed  to  the  parish 
of  South  Ormsby,  a  neat  Lincolnshire  village,  about  eight  miles 
north-west  of  Spilsby.  It  is  pleasantly  situated,  and,  in  1821, 
the  parish,  including  the  adjoining  hamlet  of  Kettlesby,  contained 
thirty-six  dwelling-houses,  and  two  hundred  and  sixty-one  inha- 
bitants, a  population  probably  quite  equal  to  what  it  was  in  the 
days  of  Samuel  Wesley.  The  church  consists  of  a  tower,  a  nave, 
and  a  chancel,  with  a  small  chapel  on  the  northern  side,  and  is 
dedicated  to  St  Leonard.* 

This  was  no  serious  charge  for  a  young  clergyman  of  twenty- 
eight  years  of  age,  and  possessed  of  learning  and  ability  like  those 
of  Samuel  Wesley  ;  yet  here,  among  his  flock  of  two  liundred  men, 
women,  and  children,  he  resided  and  faithfully  laboured  for  about 
the  next  five  years.  The  living  was  obtained  for  him  without 
any  solicitation  on  liis  part,  by  the  Marquis  of  Normanby.  Its 
emoluments  were  £50  a  year,  and  a  house  to  live  in.^  The  house 
was  little  better  than  a  mud-built  hut,  and  Samuel  Wesley  in  de- 
scribing it  and  his  own  life  in  it,  writes  : — 

"  In  a  mean  cot,  composed  of  reeds  and  clay, 
Wasting  in  si£;hs  the  uncomfortable  day ; 
Near  wliere  the  inhospitable  Hiimber  roars, 
Devouring  by  degrees,  the  neighbouring  shores. 
Let  earth  go  where  it  will,  I  '11  not  repine. 
Nor  can  unhappy  be,  while  heaven  is  mine." 

Here,  in  this  miserable  hovel,  Wesley  and  his  noble  young  wife 
resided.  Here  five  of  their  children  were  born,  and  here  Wesley 
wrote  some  of  the  most  able  works  he  ever  published.     Samuel 

*  History  of  the  County  of  Lincoln. 

+  Mr  Kirk  says  the  living  of  South  Ormsby  now  brings  in  more  than  five  times 
that  amount. 


AGE  29.]  "  THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."  129 

Wesley  was  one  of  the  rural  clerofy,  but  differed  widely  from  the 
great  mass  of  his  brethren,  who  are  thus  described  by  Macauky : — 
"  The  rural  clergyman,  generally,  began  life  as  a  young  Levite, 
who  every  day  said  grace,  at  the  table  of  a  coarse  ignorant  squire, 
in  full  canonicals ;  and  received,  as  pay,  his  board,  a  small  garret, 
and  ten  pounds  a  year.  In  fine  weather,  he  was  always  ready  for 
bowls  ;  and  in  rainy  weather,  for  shovelboard.  Sometimes  he 
nailed  up  apricots,  and  sometimes  curried  coach  horses,  and  cast 
up  farriers'  bills.  He  was  permitted  to  dine  with  the  family ;  but 
was  expected  to  content  himself  with  the  plainest  fare.  A  wait- 
ing woman  was  generally  considered  as  the  most  suitable  help- 
meet for  him.  Quitting  his  chaplainship  for  a  benefice  and  a 
wife,  he  found  he  had  only  exchanged  one  class  of  vexations  for 
another.  Often  it  was  only  by  toiling  on  his  glebe,  by  feeding- 
swine,  and  by  loading  dungcarts,  that  he  could  obtain  daily  bread ; 
nor  did  his  utmost  exertions  always  prevent  the  bailifts  from  tak- 
ing his  concordance  and  his  inkstand  in  execution.  It  was  a 
white  day  on  which  he  was  admitted  into  the  kitchen  of  a  great 
house,  and  regaled  by  the  servants  with  cold  meat  and  ale.  His 
children  were  brought  up  like  the  children  of  the  neighbouring 
peasants.  His  boys  followed  the  plough,  and  his  girls  were  sent  out 
to  service.  Study  he  found  to  be  impossible,  for  the  advowson  of 
his  living  would  hardly  4iave  sold  for  a  sum  sufficient  to  purchase 
a  good  theological  library ;  and  he  might  be  considered  as  unusually 
lucky,  if  he  had  ten  or  twelve  dog-eared  volumes  among  the  pots 
and  pans  on  his  household  shelves.  It  is  true  that  at  that  time 
(1685)  there  was  no  lack  in  the  English  Church  of  ministers 
distinguished  by  abilities  and  learning ;  but  these  men  were  to  be 
found,  with  scarce  a  single  exception,  at  the  universities,  at  the 
great  cathedrals,  or  in  the  capital.  Barrow  had  lately  died  at 
Cambridge,  and  Pearson  had  gone  thence  to  the  Episcopal  bench, 
Cudworth  and  Henry  More  were  still  living  there ;  South  and 
Pococke,  Jane  and  Aldrich  were  at  Oxford.  Prideaux  was  at  Nor- 
wich, and  Whitby  at  Salisbury.  In  London  were  Sherlock,  Til- 
lotson,  Sprat,  Wake,  Jeremy  Collier,  Burnett,  Stillingfleet,  Fowler, 
Sharp,  Tennison,  and  Beveridge.  Of  these,  ten  became  bishops  and 
four  archbishops.  Thus  the  Anglican  priesthood  was  divided  into 
two  sections — one  trained  for  cities  and  courts,  comprising  men 
familiar  with  all  ancient  and  modern  learning ;  men  able  to  en- 
counter Hobbes  or  Bossuet  at  all  the  weapons  of  controversy ;  men 

I 


130  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lC91. 

who  could,  in  their  sermons,  set  forth  the  majesty  and  beauty  of 
Christianity  with  such  justness  of  thought,  and  such  energy  of  lan- 
guage, that  the  indolent  Charles  roused  himself  to  listen,  and  the 
fastidious  Buckingham  forgot  to  sneer ;  men  with  whom  Halifax 
loved  to  discuss  the  interests  of  empires,  and  from  whom  Dryden 
was  not  ashamed  to  own  that  he  had  learned  to  write.  The  other 
section  was  destined  to  render  humbler  service.  It  was  dispersed 
over  the  country,  and  consisted  chiefly  of  persons  not  at  all  weal- 
thier, and  not  much  more  refined,  than  small  farmers  or  upper 
servants.  And  yet,  it  was  in  these  rustic  priests,  who  derived 
their  scanty  subsistence  from  their  tithe  sheaves  and  tithe  pigs, 
and  who  had  not  the  smallest  chance  of  ever  attaining  high  pro- 
fessional honours,  that  the  professional  spirit  was  strongest. 
Among  those  divines,  who  were  the  boast  of  the  universities,  and 
the  delight  of  the  capital,  a  party  leaned  towards  constitutional 
principles  of  government,  lived  on  friendly  terms  with  Presby- 
terians, Independents,  and  Baptists,  would  gladly  have  seen  a  full 
toleration  granted  to  all  Protestant  sects,  and  would  even  have 
consented  to  make  alterations  in  the  Liturgy,  for  the  purpose  of 
conciliating  honest  and  candid  Nonconformists.  But  such  latitudi- 
narianism  was  held  in  horror  by  the  country  parson.  He  was, 
indeed,  prouder  of  his  ragged  gown  than  his  superiors  of  their 
lawn  and  of  their  scarlet  hoods.  The  wery  consciousness  that 
there  was  little  in  his  worldly  circumstances  to  distinguish  him 
from  the  villagers  to  whom  he  preached,  led  him  to  hold  immo- 
derately high  the  dignity  of  that  sacerdotal  office,  which  was  his 
single  title  to  reverence." 

We  raise  no  objection  to  this  graphic  description  of  the  country 
clergy  living  about  the  time  that  Samuel  Wesley  was  appointed  to 
South  Ormsby.  We  believe  it  to  be  strictly  accurate  ;  and  yet  to 
all  general  rules  there  are  exceptions,  and,  in  this  instance,  Samuel 
Wesley  was  one.  It  is  true  that  he  was  poor  and  pinched.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  he  sometimes  found  it  necessary  to  load  his 
dungcart,  plough  his  glebe,  and  feed  his  swine  ;  but  Samuel  Wesley 
was  not  the  man  to  waste  his  time  at  bowls  and  shovelboard ;  or 
to  stoop  to  the  indignity  of  being  regaled,  by  servants,  with  cold 
meat  and  ale,  in  the  kitchen  of  the  squire's  forbidden  hall.  His 
children  might  be  coarsely  clad,  but  his  boys  never  followed  the 
plough,  nor  did  his  girls  go  out  to  service.  His  fifty  pounds  a  year 
might  aflford  him  next  to  nothing  to  buy  books  ;  and  yet,  somehow 


AGE  29.]  "  THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."'  131 

he  read  most  of  the  best  books  in  the  English  language.  He  was 
most  faithfully  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  Church  ;  but  he  was  far 
too  great  a  man  to  think  that  the  mere  accidents  of  the  sacerdotal 
office  were  sufficient  to  raise  him  above  his  neighbours.  He  was 
a  country  parson  ;  but  in  learning,  mental  abilities,  and  the  faith- 
ful discharge  of  ministerial  duties,  he  differed  from  his  country 
brethren,  and  was  not  unworthy  to  be  ranked  and  associated  with 
the  greatest  men  at  that  time  flourishing  in  the  universities,  in 
cathedrals,  and  in  the  capital.  He  might,  like  hundreds  of  others, 
have  spent  his  time  in  agricultural  toils  and  village  sports,  but 
there  was  within  him  the  stirring  of  a  high-born  genius,  which, 
wherever  it  exists,  invariably  impels  its  possessor  to  rise  above  the 
mediocrity  of  the  common  herd,  and  to  attempt  something  honour- 
able to  the  man  who  does  it,  and  of  service  to  those  on  whose 
behalf  he  labours.  Human  humdrums  have  always  been  incon- 
veniently numerous,  but  Samuel  Wesley  was  not  one  of  them. 

As  already  stated,  he  was  the  clergyman  of  an  obscure  village, 
with  about  two  hundred  inhabitants.  There  was  plenty  of  oppor- 
tunity to  live  a  lazy  life.  He  might  have  droned  away  his  time, 
and  wasted  "the  uncomfortable  day  in  sighs  ;"  but,  like  all  men  of 
genius  and  of  mark,  he  could  be  happy  only  by  being  hard  at  work. 
His  scanty  income,  and  his  increasing  family,  might  be  one  of  the 
inducements  which  led  him  to  devote  himself  to  literary  labour ; 
but  had  his  income  been  even  larger  than  his  necessities  required, 
it  is  almost  certain  that  he  would  have  pursued  the  same  course  of 
conduct ;  for,  to  a  literary  man,  literary  labour  is  not  merely  toil, 
but  likewise  luxury. 

Samuel  Wesley's  first  publication  was  the  "  Maggots,"  already 
noticed.  His  next  undertaking  was  the  Athenian  Gazette,  pro- 
jected by  his  brother-in-law,  John  Dunton,  just  before  Wesley  re- 
moved from  London  to  South  Ormsby.  The  title  of  the  new  work 
was  the  "Atlienian  Gazette;  or.  Casuistical  Mercury,  Resolving  all 
the  Nice  and  Carious  Questions  Proposed  hy  the  Ingenious^  The 
Gazette  was  published  twice  a  week,  every  Tuesday  and  Saturday, 
each  number  consisting  of  a  single  folio.  The  first  number  made 
its  appearance  oh  Tuesday,  March  17,  1G91,  and  the  last  on 
June  14,  ]  697.  Each  number  was  sold  at  one  penny,  and  thirty 
numbers,  that  is,  sixty  pages,  made  what  was  called  a  volume  ;  and 
which,  stitched  in  marble  paper,  was  sold  for  half-a-crown.  In 
the  first  number  that  was  issuer!,  seven  questions  are  answered  in 


132  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lC91- 

the  following  order,  viz.  : — 1.  Whether  the  torments  of  the  damned 
are  visible  to  the  saints  in  heaven  ?  2.  Whether  the  soul  is  eternal, 
or  pre-existent  from  the  creation,  or  contemporary  with  its  embryo  ? 

3.  Whether  every  man  has  a  good  and  bad  angel  attending  him  ? 

4.  Where  was  the  soul  of  Lazarus  for  the  four  days  he  lay  in  the 
grave  ?  5.  Whether  all  souls  are  alike  ?  6.  Whether  it  is  lawful 
for  a  man  to  beat  his  wife  ?     7.  How  came  the  spots  in  the  moon  ? 

In  an  advertisement,  at  the  end  of  No.  1,  correspondents  are 
requested  to  send  their  questions,  "  by  a  penny  post  letter,  to  Mr 
Smith's,  at  his  Coffee-house,  in  Stock's  Market,  in  the  Poultry." 

As  already  stated,  thirty  numbers  made  what  was  called  a 
volume ;  but  to  each  of  the  first  five  volumes  was  attached  a  sup- 
plement, quite  as  large  as  the  volume  itself,  containing  "  the 
transactions  and  experiments  of  the  foreign  virtuosos,  and  also 
their  ingenious  conferences  upon  many  nice  and  curious  questions  ; 
together  with  an  account  of  the  design  and  scope  of  most  of  the 
considerable  books  printed  in  all  languages,  and  the  quality  of  the 
author,  if  known." 

Wesley  and  his  friends  were  soon  inundated  with  questions  ;  so 
much  so,  that  in  the  preface  to  vol.  ii.,  they  say  they  have  nearly 
four  thousand  on  hand  unanswered;  they  also  request  that  no 
obscene  questions  be  sent,  for  they  are  resolved  not  to  answer 
them  ;  nor  riddles,  for  riddles  are  of  no  use  to  the  general  public  ; 
nor  anything  else,  the  answer  to  which  may  be  a  scandal  to  the 
Government,  or  an  abuse  to  particular  persons. 

During  the  publication  of  the  first  six  volumes,  the  Athenian 
Gazette  was  issued  only  twice  a  week  ;  but  afterwards  the  numbers 
were  published  every  Monday,  Tuesday,  Friday,  and  Saturday,  un- 
til the  completion  of  the  nineteenth  volume,  when  it  was  announced 
that,  "as  the  coffee-houses  have  the  votes  every  day,  and  nine 
newspapers  every  week,  the  Athenian  Society  propose  to  drop  the 
publication  of  sheets  four  days  a  week,  and  henceforth  to  publish 
the  work  in  volumes  quarterly.  Thirty  numbers,  to  make  volume 
XX.,  would  be  printed  all  together  ;  but  as  soon  as  the  glut  of  news 
was  a  little  over,  the  weekly  numbers  would  again  commence." 

Eight  years  after,  in  1703,  the  old  Athenian  volumes  being  out 
of  print,  "a  collection  of  all  the  valuable  questions  and  answers" 
was  printed  in  three  volumes ;  and,  in  1710,  a  fourth  volume  was 
added,  as  a  supplement,  "  being  a  collection  of  the  remaining  ques- 
tions and  answers  in  the  old  A  thenian  Gazettes."     This  work  had 


AGE  29.]  "THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."  133 

a  rapid  sale,  and,  in  1704,  a  second  edition  was  published,  with  a 
dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  written  by  Mr  Wesley. 

The  publication  of  the  Athenian  Gazette  first  occurred  to  Dun- 
ton  whilst  he  was  walking  in  St  George's  Fields.  The  object  of 
the  work  was  to  receive  and  to  answer  questions  in  all  departments 
of  literature.  Finding  assistance  necessary,  Dunton  first  engaged 
the  services  of  Richard  Sault,  a  man  who  "  was  admirably  well 
skilled  in  the  mathematics."  Then  the  ingenious  Dr  Norris  gener- 
ously offered  his  help  gratis;  but  refused  to  become  a  stated  mem- 
ber of  the  Athenian  Society.  The  undertaking  grew  every  week, 
and  hundreds  of  letters  poured  in.  Dunton  writes,  "  The  impatience 
of  our  querists,  and  the  curiosity  of  their  questions,  obliged  us  to 
adopt  a  third  member  of  Athens ;  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley 
being  just  come  to  town,  all  new  from  the  university,  and  my 
acquaintance  with  him  being  very  intimate,  I  easily  prevailed  with 
hira  to  embark  himself  with  us.  With  this  new  addition,  we 
found  ourselves  to  be  masters  of  the  whole  design  ;  and  therefore 
we  neither  lessened  nor  increased  our  number." 

The  original  "  articles  of  agreement  between  Samuel  Wesley, 
clerk,  Richard  Sault,  gent,  and  John  Dunton,  for  the  writing  of 
the  Athenian  Gazette,  or  Mercury,  dated  April  10,  1691,"  may 
still  be  seen  among  Duntan's  MSS.  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 

When  the  Athenian  Gazette  was  fairly  and  fully  launched,  a 
rival  paper,  entitled  the  Lacedemonian  Mercury,  was  published 
by  Brown  &  Pate.  This  was  a  trifling  and  even  profane  perform- 
ance. The  sole  23urpose  of  the  writers  "seemed  to  be  to  laugh 
and  ridicule  solidity  and  seriousness  out  of  the  world."*  This 
aroused  the  ire  and  energies  of  Wesley,  Sault,  and  Dunton,  and 
they  succeeded  in  putting  down  the  rival  and  ungodly  upstart.  A 
little  later,  an  attack  was  made  upon  their  publication,  by  Elkanah 
Settle,  who  brought  out  a  play,  entitled  "The  New  Athenian 
Comedy ;  containing  the  Politicks,  Oeconomicks,  Tacticks,  Cryp- 
ticks,  Apocalypticks,  Stypticks,  Scepticks,  Pneumaticks,  Theologicks, 
and  Dogmaticks  of  our  most  learned  Society."  Settle  was  born  at 
Dunstable,  in  1648,  and  was  educated  at  Trinity  College,  Oxford, 
He  began  life  by  publishing  two  political  pamphlets,  which  were 
publicly  burnt,  on  the  accession  of  James  ILf  After  this,  he  turned 
Tory,  wrote  a  poem  on  James's  coronation,  and  published  an  essay 

*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  iv.  p.  69. 

t  Dryden's  Mis.  Works,  vol.  i.,  notes,  p.  67,  1760. 


134  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [iG'Jl. 

weekly  on  behalf  of  James's  administration.  He  was  called  the 
city  poet,  because  he  had  a  salary  for  writing  a  poem  annually  on 
the  Lord  Mayor's  day.  Afterwards  he  was  reduced  to  such  ex- 
treme poverty,  that  he  was  not  only  obliged  to  write  farces  for 
Bartholomew  fair,  but  to  act  in  them  himself.  In  a  farce,  called 
St  George  and  the  Dragon,  he  acted  the  dragon,  a  circumstance 
referred  to  by  Dr  Young  in  the  following  lines : — 

"  Poor  Elkanah,  all  other  changes  past, 
For  bread,  in  Smithfiekl,  dragons  hiss'd  at  last, 
Spit  streams  of  fire,  to  make  the  butchers  gape. 
And  found  his  manners  suited  to  his  shape." 

Settle  died  in  1723,  the  author  of  ten  tragedies,  three  operas,  a 
comedy,  and  a  pastoral,  all  of  which  are  now  forgotten.  His 
comedy  was  written  against  Wesley,  Sault,  and  Dunton  ;  but  Dun- 
ton  says  it  "  was  a  poor  performance,  and  failed  in  its  design." 

The  place  where  Wesley,  Sault,  and  Dunton  met  respecting  the 
affairs  of  their  united  publication,  was  Smith's  Coffee-house, 
George  Yard,  adjoining  the  Mansion  House,  and  here,  on  one 
occasion,  an  incident  occurred,  illustrative  of  Samuel  Wesley's 
character.  In  a  box,  at  the  other  end  of  the  room,  where  Wesley 
and  his  two  friends  were  met  for  business,  there  were  a  number 
of  gentlemen,  including  an  officer  of  the  guards,  who,  in  his  con- 
versation, swore  most  dreadfully.  Wesley  heard  the  oaths  of  this 
foul-mouthed  man,  and,  feeling  excessively  annoyed  at  such 
disgraceful  ribaldry,  asked  the  waiter  to  bring  him  a  glass  of 
water,  and  then,  in  a  loud  voice  so  as  to  be  heard  by  every 
one  present,  said,  "  Carry  the  water  to  that  gentleman  in  the  red 
coat,  and  desire  him  to  wash  his  mouth  after  his  oaths."  No , 
sooner  were  the  words  spoken,  than  the  irate  officer  started  to  his 
feet  to  chastise  the  bold  young  parson.  His  friends,  however, 
jjossessed  of  more  sense  and  manners  than  himself,  seized  him 
and  said,  "  Nay,  Colonel !  you  gave  the  first  offence,  you  know 
it  is  an  affront  to  swear  in  the  presence  of  a  clergyman."  And 
there  for  the  present  the  matter  ended ;  but,  many  years  after- 
wards, when  AVesley  was  in  London  attending  convocation,  on  going 
through  St  James's  Park,  a  gentleman  accosted  him,  and  asked  if 
he  knew  him,  Wesley  answered  in  the  negative,  upon  which  the 
gentleman  recalled  to  his  remembrance  the  scene  in  Smith's  coffee- 
house, and  added,  "  Since  then,  sir,  I  thank  God  I  have  feared 
an  oath,  and  everything  that  is  offensive  to  the  divine  Majesty. 


AGE  29.]  "THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."  135 

I  rejoice  at  seeing  you,  and  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  my 
gratitude  to  God  and  to  you,  that  we  ever  met."  A  word  spoken 
in  season,  how  good  is  it ! 

It  has  been  already  stated  that  Wesley,  Sault,  and  Dunton  were 
the  only  proprietors  of  the  Athenian  Gazette;  but  it  is  right  to 
add  that  they  had,  among  their  contributors,  some  of  the  dis- 
tinguished writers  of  that  period. 

Sault  was,  in  some  respects,  a  remarkable  man.  His  literary 
attainments  were  considerable,  and  his  skill  in  mathematics  great ; 
but  he  proved  unfaithful  to  his  wife,  sunk  into  a  state  of  extreme 
melancholy,  and  wrote  a  paper,  which,  to  a  great  extent,  embodied 
his  own  experience,  and  which  he  entitled,  "  The  Second  Spira, 
being  a  fearful  example  of  an  Atheist,  who  had  apostatised  from  the 
Christian  religion,  and  died  in  despair  at  Westminster,  Dec.  8, 
1692."  In  this  account,  he  speaks  of  himself  as  having  spent  five 
years  at  the  university.  He  then  came  to  London,  and  began  to 
study  law.  He  formed  an  acquaintance  with  atheistical  com- 
panions, and  drank  into  their  spirit.  He  was  then  taken  ill,  and 
was  visited  by  his  friends.  After  this,  follows  an  account  of  his 
pretended  bewailings  of  his  past  faithlessness.  Once  he  knew  the 
mercies  of  God  and  tasted  what  they  were  ;  but  now  he  had  denied 
Christ,  and  wished  that  he  was  in  hell.  He  refused  all  sustenance ; 
he  groaned  and  tossed,  and  said  he  knew  himself  sealed  unto  dam- 
nation. "  Oh  that  I  was  to  broil,"  he  cried,  "  upon  that  fire  for  a 
thousand  years,  to  purchase  the  favour  of  God,  and  be  reconciled 
to  Him  again !  But  it  is  a  fruitless  wish  !  Millions  of  millions 
of  years  will  bring  me  no  nearer  to  the  end  of  my  tortures  than 
one  poor  hour.  Oh  eternity  !  eternity  !  "  His  last  words  were, 
"  Oh  the  insufferable  pangs  of  hell  and  damnation."  Sault  sent 
this  fictitious  paper  to  Dunton,  in  a  disguised  hand,  and  requested 
him  to  publish  it  as  a  truthful  narrative.  Dunton  did  so,  and  in 
six  weeks  sold  thirty  thousand  copies,  at  sixpence  each.  After- 
wards, it  became  known  that  the  pamphlet  was  a  piece  of  fiction, 
except  so  far  as  it  was  a  partial  description  of  Sault's  own  ex- 
perience ;  for  Dunton  tells  us  that  a  little  before  he  received  the 
narrative,  "  Sault  was  under  the  severest  terrors  of  conscience ; 
and  his  despair  and  melancholy  made  him  look  like  some  walking 
ghost."  Dunton  several  times  heard  him  muttering  to  himself, 
"  I  am  damned  !  I  am  damned  !  "  The  publication  of  "  The  Second 
Spira"    created   an   immense   sensation,  and  Dunton  found   it 


loG  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES'.  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l691. 

necessary  to  publish  the  "  Secret  History  of  Mr  Sault,"  so  as  to 
clear  himself  from  the  imputation  of  sham  or  fraud  in  giving  to 
the  public  such  a  narrative ;  and  yet,  it  is  a  singular  circumstance, 
that,  nearly  a  hundred  years  afterwards,  John  Wesley  republished 
the  greater  part  of  "  The  Second  Spira"  in  his  Arminian  Maga- 
zine, without  a  single  line  of  explanation  that  the  piece,  though 
powerfully  written,  was  almost  altogether  false.  Eichard  Sault 
ultimately  removed  to  Cambridge,  where  his  ingenuity  and  his 
algebraic  skill  obtained  for  him  a  considerable  reputation.  He 
died  there  in  1704-,  being  supported  in  his  last  sickness  by  the 
charity  of  the  scholars.  He  was  interred  in  St  Andrew's  Church, 
Cambridge ;  and  a  writer,  who  knew  him,  says,  "  his  learning 
was  as  universal  as  his  sense  of  things  was  fine  and  curious." 

Among  the  principal  contributors  to  the  Athenian  Gazette  vf eve. 
Daniel  Defoe,  already  sketched,  Dr  Norris,  Nahum  Tate,  Dean 
Swift,  Sir  William  Temple,  and  Mrs  Eowe.* 

John  Norris  was  born  at  Collingborne-Kingston,  in  Wiltshire, 
in  1657,  and  died  at  Bemerton,  in  the  same  county,  in  1711.  He 
was  educated  first  in  Winchester  School,  and  afterwards  in  the 
same  college,  at  Oxford,  as  that  which  Samuel  Wesley  entered. 
He  was  elected  Fellow  of  All  Souls'  College,  and,  shortly  after 
Wesley  left  Oxford,  he  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  Newton  St 
Loe,  and,  two  years  later,  to  that  of  Bemerton.  He  was  a  pious, 
learned,  and  ingenious  man,  but  had  a  tincture  of  enthusiasm  in 
his  nature,  which  led  him  to  imbibe  the  principles  of  the  idealists 
in  philosophy  and  of  the  mystics  in  theology.  A  late  writer  says 
of  him,  "  In  metaphysical  acumen,  in  theological  learning,  and  in 
purity  of  diction,  Dr  Norris  acknowledges  no  superior.  He  carries 
the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences  in  his  head,  and  piety  and  religion 
illustrate  all  his  actions.  Never  was  any  question  proposed  by 
ingenious  malice  or  curiosity,  but,  with  the  utmost  readiness  and 
facility,  he  gave  not  only  fair  and  amusing  ideas  of  it,  but  full  and 
most  evident  demonstrations.  He  was  good,  great,  and  learned  ; 
and  a  worthy  companion  of  so  great  a  man  as  Samuel  Wesley."  f 
His  greatest  work  is  "  The  Theory  of  the  Ideal  World,"  but,  be- 
sides that,  he  published  several  others. 

*  It  has  been  said  that  Matthew  Wesley  was  a  member  of  the  Athenian  Society ; 
but,  after  a  careful  examination  of  the  evidence  alleged  in  proof  of  this,  I  strongly 
doubt  it. 

t  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  iv.  p.  26-7. 


AGE  29.]  "THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."  J  37 

Nahum  Tate  was  poet-laureate  to  King  William  III.  He  was 
born  in  Dublin  in  1655,  and  educated  in  the  Dublin  University. 
On  coming  to  London,  he  fell  into  pecuniary  difficulties,  from 
which  he  was  relieved  by  the  Earl  of  Dorset,  He  was  the  author 
of  nine  dramatic  pieces,  and  of  a  variety  of  miscellaneous  poems, 
now  deservedly  forgotten.  His  name  is  principally  known  by  his 
version  of  the  Psalms,  generally  affixed  to  the  Liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  in  the  composition  of  which  he  was  assisted 
by  Dr  Brady. 

Jonathan  Swift,  another  of  the  Athenian  contributors,  was  a 
marvellous  mortal.  One  of  his  earliest  poetical  productions  was 
a  commendatory  poem  of  307  lines  sent  to  the  Athenian  Society- 
Dryden  read  it,  and  said,  "  Cousin  Swift,  you  will  never  be  a 
poet."  Dr  Johnson  says  that  this  unfortunate  remark  caused 
Swift  to  regard  Dryden  with  malevolence  to  the  end  of  life.  His 
"Tale  of  a  Tub,"  "Gulliver's  Travels,"  and  other  works  are  too 
well  known  to  need  description.  He  was  a  man  of  amazing 
genius,  but  never  ought  to  have  been  a  priest.  During  his  resi- 
dence in  Dublin  University,  he  incurred  no  less  than  seventy 
penalties  for  irregularities  ;  and,  in  the  last  year  of  his  residence, 
his  academical  degree  was  suspended,  and  he  was  sentenced  to 
ask  public  pardon  of  the  junior  dean  for  insolence.  In  his  per- 
sonal habits  he  was  scrupulously  nice  ;  and  yet  there  are  passages 
in  his  writings  almost  as  gross  as  his  pen  could  make  them.  As 
an  author,  he  is  perhaps  not  surpassed  for  originality,  and  it  has 
been  said  of  him  that  he  never  borrowed  a  thought  from  any 
man.  In  some  matters  he  was  ludicrously  penurious.  Once  when 
going  from  Sir  William  Temple's  to  his  mother's,  he  travelled  the 
whole  distance  on  foot,  except  when  the  violence  of  the  weather 
drove  him  into  stage  waggons ;  and,  at  nights,  put  up  at  penny 
lodgings,  where,  to  secure  himself  from  filth,  he  hired  clean  sheets 
for  sixpence ;  and  yet  with  all  this  he  can  hardly  be  called  a  man 
of  avarice,  for  he  seems  to  have  saved  only  that  he  might  have 
the  more  to  give.  Three  years  before  his  death,  he  became  insane, 
and  sunk  into  a  lethargy,  in  which  he  remained  speechless  for  a 
year.  He  left  the  greater  part  of  his  fortune  to  an  hospital  for 
lunatics  and  idiots.  He  died  in  1744.  The  pranks  and  puns  of 
Jonathan  Swift,  Dean  of  St  Patrick's,  are  endless.  The  common 
people  received  him  everywhere  with  profound  respect ;  and  upon 
one  occasion,  he  made  a  laughable  experiment   on   the  public 


138  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l6DL 

belief  in  liis  authority.  A  number  of  the  people  having  assembled 
round  the  deanery  to  see  an  eclipse,  Swift  became  tired  of  their 
commotion,  and  directed  the  town  crier  to  make  proclamation,  that 
the  eclipse  was  postponed,  by  command  of  the  Dean  of  St  Patrick's, 
which  had  the  efiect  of  dispersing  the  assembled  star-gazers. 

Sir  William  Temple  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  Athenian 
Gazette.  This  eminent  statesman  was  a  pupil  of  the  learned  Dr 
Hammond,  his  maternal  uncle.  As  an  author,  he  was  pleasing 
and  popular,  his  style  being  long  regarded  as  a  model  of  grace 
and  elegance.  He  died  at  Moor  Park,  in  1698,  where,  in  accordance 
with  his  will,  his  heart  was  buried  in  a  silver  box  under  the 
sun-dial,  opposite  to  a  window  where  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
contemplate  and  admire  the  works  of  nature ;  while  his  body  was 
privately  interred  in  Westminster  Abbey, 

The  last  contributor,  we  mention,  was  Mrs  Eowe,  who  supplied 
"  a  variety  of  inimitable  poems."  "  She  was,"  says  Dunton,  "  the 
richest  genius  of  her  sex.  She  knew  the  purity  of  our  tongue, 
and  conversed  with  as  much  briskness  and  gaiety  as  she  wrote. 
Her  style  is  noble  and  flowing,  and  her  images  vivid  and  shining." 
Mrs  Rowe,  at  this  time,  was  not  more  than  twenty  years  of  age  ; 
but  she  had  cultivated  music,  painting,  and  poetry  from  her  child- 
hood. She  afterwards  studied  French  and  Italian,  and  enjoyed 
the  friendship  of  some  of  the  most  eminent  literati  of  her  day. 
She  died  in  1737,  and,  shortly  after  her  death,  Dr  Isaac  Watts 
published  her  "  Devout  Exercises  of  the  Heart."  A  year  or 
two  afterwards,  appeared  her  miscellaneous  works,  in  prose  and 
verse,  in  two  volumes  octavo. 

These  were  the  principal  writers  who  assisted  Samuel  Wesley, 
Richard  Sault,  and  John  Dunton  in  the  publication  of  their 
Athenian  Gazette.  The  history  of  the  Athenian  Society  was 
afterwards  written  by  Charles  Gildon,  and  published  in  a  folio  of 
thirty-six  pages.  Gildon  was  a  native  of  the  same  county  as 
Samuel  Wesley,  and  about  the  same  age.  He  was  educated  at 
Douay  for  a  popish  priest,  but,  not  liking  the  priestly  office,  he 
plunged  into  dissipation,  and  added  to  his  financial  embarrass- 
ments by  an  imprudent  marriage  at  the  age  of  twenty-three. 
Necessity  obliged  him  to  turn  author,  and  he  produced  a  variety 
of  works  in  prose  and  verse.  He  died  in  1723.  Pope  gave  him 
a  place  in  his  "  Dunciad;"  but  Dunton  says  he  was  well  "acquainted 


AGE  29.]  "  THE  ATHENIAN  OAZETTE."  139 

Avith  the  languages,  and  wrote  with  a  peculiar  briskness  which 
the  common  hacks  could  not  boast  of." 

Gildon  tells  us  that  the  whole  design  of  the  Athenian  Society- 
was  "  not  only  to  improve  knowledge  in  divinity  and  philosophy, 
in  all  their  parts,  as  well  as  philosophy  in  all  its  latitude,  but  also 
to  commend  this  improvement  to  the  public  in  the  best  method 
that  can  be  found  out  for  instruction.  In  their  Gazettes  may  be 
found  the  marrow  of  what  great  authors  have  writ  on  curious 
subjects.  The  society  have  set  learning  in  so  fair  a  light,  that, 
won  with  its  beauty,  every  one  must  with  eagerness  embrace  it. 
All  the  knotty  points  of  philosophy,  divinity,  mathematics,  &c., 
are  formed  into  queries  by  the  inquisitive,  and  answered  by  the 
society,  who  are  not  only  men  of  parts,  but  also  industrious  to 
the  highest  degree.  They  are  men  of  sense,  and  piety,  and 
patience.  Horace  never  had  half  the  fatigue  with  the  poetaster, 
as  they  must  have  had  with  both  male  and  female  impertinencies. 
One  correspondent  wishes  to  know  whether  any  two  men  have 
the  same  number  of  hairs  on  their  heads ;  another  wishes  to 
know  whether  it  be  lawful  to  eat  black  puddings ;  and  another 
whether  the  devil  takes  a  human  form  in  foreign  countries. 
There  are  hundreds  of  such  questions  asked  and  answered.  In- 
deed queries  came  in  so  fast,  that  in  the  third  number  of  the 
Gazette  the  public  were  requested  to  send  no  more  till  those 
already  sent  had  received  replies." 

Gildon  then  proceeds  to  give  an  account  of  the  principal  con- 
tributors. Of  Samuel  Wesley  he  says,  "  He  was  a  man  of  profound 
knowledge,  not  only  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  of  the  councils,  and 
of  the  fathers,  but  also  of  every  other  Art  that  comes  within  the 
number  of  the  liberal.  His  zeal  and  ability  in  giving  spiritual 
directions  were  great.  With  invincible  powpr  he  confirmed  the 
wavering,  and  confuted  heretics.  Beneath  the  genial  warmth  of 
his  wit,  the  most  barren  subject  became  fertile  and  divertive. 
His  style  was  sweet  and  manly,  soft  without  satiety,  and  learned 
without  pedantry.  His  temper  and  conversation  were  affable.  His 
compassion  for  the  sufferings  of  his  fellow-creatures,  was  as  great 
as  his  learning  and  his  parts.  Were  it  possible  for  any  man  to 
act  the  part  of  a  universal  priest,  he  would  certainly  deem  it  his 
duty  to  take  care  of  the  spiritual  good  of  all  mankind.  In  all 
his  writings  and  actions,  he  evinced  a  deep  concern  for  all  that 
bear  the  glorious  image  of  their  Maker ;  and  was  so  apostolical  in 


140  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l69L 

his  spirit,  that  pains,  labours,  watchings,  and  prayers  were  far 
more  delightful  to  him  than  honours  to  the  ambitious,  wealth  to 
the  miser,  or  pleasures  to  the  voluptuous."  Such,  in  substance,  is 
Gildon's  character  of  Wesley.  He  adds,  "  It  were  to  be  wished 
that  a  great  many  of  the  clergy  would  have  him  in  view,  as  a  sure 
direction  of  their  behaviour,  since  an  imitation  of  his  practical 
virtues  would  confute  the  profane  enemies  of  that  sacred  body, 
by  the  most  prevalent  of  arguments,  example!' 

Gildon  was  doubtless  well  acquainted  with  Wesley  ;  and  hence 
such  a  testimony  is  too  important  to  be  omitted. 

It  is  impossible,  in  a  work  like  this,  to  give  a  full  idea  of  the 
vast  and  varied  learning  embodied  in  these  old  Athenian  Gazettes. 
Error  is  confuted,  and  superstitions  and  follies  ridiculed.  Many 
of  the  most  perplexing  questions  in  divinity  are  discussed  with 
great  ability.  Philosophy  is  handled  with  equal  excellence.  All 
sorts  of  questions  relating  to  metaphysics,  astronomy,  mathematics, 
law,  anatomy,  and,  even  love  and  courtship,  are  answered  with 
consummate  care.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  work  contains 
things  which  would  now  be  deemed  gross  and  indelicate  ;  but 
some  allowance  must  be  made,  on  the  ground  that  the  literary 
tastes  of  the  people  were,  at  that  time,  widely  different  from  what 
they  are  at  present ;  and,  it  must  also  be  observed  further,  that,  in 
the  articles  bearing  upon  divinity,  history,  poetry,  and  natural 
philosophy,  (upon  all  of  which  subjects  Samuel  Wesley  may  be 
presumed  to  have  written,)  there  is  not  a  line  offensive  to  good 
taste,  though,  of  course,  opinions  are  expressed  which  may  fairly 
be  disputed. 

Dr  Adam  Clarke  writes,  respecting  the  Athenian  Oracle, 
"  No  reader  can  peruse  them,  (the  volumes,)  without  profit ;  for 
although  the  authors  submitted  to  answer  questions  of  little  or  no 
importance,  yet  the  work  at  large  contains  many  things  of  great 
value.  When  I  was  little  more  than  a  child,  an  odd  volume  of 
the  Athenian  Oracle,  lent  me  by  a  friend,  was  a  source  of  im- 
provement and  delight ;  and  now  I  consult  this  work  with  double 
interest,  knowing  the  well-nerved  hand,  by  which  at  least  one- 
third  of  it  was  composed," 

We  cannot  state,  with  certainty,  what  articles  in  the  Athenian 
Gazettes  were  written  by  Samuel  Wesley ;  but,  as  he  was  the  only 
clergyman  in  the  Athenian  Society,  it  may  fairly  be  presumed 
that   he  answered  all,  or   nearly  all,  the  questions  relating  to 


AGE  29.]  "  THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."  141 

divinity  and  to  churcli  history.  He  was  also  a  poet,  and  there 
cannot  be  a  doubt  that  many  of  the  poetical  pieces  were  likewise 
the  productions  of  his  genius. 

In  the  indices  of  the  Athenian  Oracle,  there  is  a  list  of  about 
2800  questions,  and  of  these  about  900  refer  to  theology  and 
the  history  of  the  Church ;  so  that  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose, that  one-third  of  the  Athenian  questions  were  answered  by 
Mr  Wesley.  The  following  is  a  selection,  and  will  tend  to  show 
the  difficulties  Avith  which  he  courageously  grappled  : — 

"  1.  Has  every  man  an  angel  to  attend  him  ?  2.  What  was  the 
cause  of  the  fall  of  angels  ?  3.  When  did  angels  receive  their 
first  existence  ?  4.  On  what  day  did  Adam  fall  ?  5.  Was  Adam 
a  giant  ?  6.  Who  was  the  first  founder  of  Atheism  ?  7.  What 
became  of  the  ark  after  the  flood  ?  8,  Did  the  fall  of  Adam  cause 
any  alteration  in  his  body  ?  9.  Did  Adam  sin  more  than  once  ? 
10.  What  number  of  angels  fell?  11.  In  what  sense  could  angels 
eat?  12,  Are  there  nine  orders  of  angels?  13.  How  high  was 
Babel's  tower  ?  14.  Of  what  sort  of  matter  will  glorified  bodies 
consist?  15.  What  language  was  spoken  by  Balaam's  ass  ?  16. 
Can  the  day  of  Christ's  nativity  be  found  out  ?  17.  Who  was 
Cain's  wife?  18.  What  mark  did  God  fix  upon  Cain?  19. 
Why  was  Christ  not  baptized  till  He  was  thirty  years  of  age  ? 
20.  Are  the  torments  of  the  damned  visible  to  the  saints?  21. 
Is  the  devil  corporeal  ?  22.  Does  the  devil  know  our  thoughts  ? 
23.  Can  the  devil  generate  ?  24.  Why  is  not  the  name  of  God 
mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Esther  ?  25.  Have  dead  friends  any 
concern  for  those  alive  ?  26.  Shall  we  know  friends  in  heaven  ? 
27.  Are  the  ghosts  that  appear  the  souls  of  men  ?  28.  Are  the 
punishments  of  hell  equal?  29.  Who  is  the  author  of  the  Book 
of  Job  ?  30.  What  language  did  our  first  parents  speak  in 
Paradise  ?  31.  Were  there  any  men  before  Adam  ?  82.  Was 
Moses  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch?  33.  Why  was  man  not 
made  incapable  of  sinning  ?  34.  Shall  negroes  rise  at  the  last 
day  ?  35.  Whither  went  the  waters  of  Noah's  flood  ?  36.  Did 
Peter  and  Paul  use  notes  when  they  preached  ?  37.  How  is  the 
prescience  of  God  consistent  with  man's  free  agency  ?  38.  Was 
extempore  prayer  a  primitive  custom  ?  39.  Are  the  marriages  of 
Quakers  lawful  ?  40.  Whether  would  you  choose  to  be  a  Quaker 
or  a  Papist  ?  41.  Is  repentance  acceptable  without  sackcloth  and 
ashes?     42.  Is  the  soul  of  man  pre-existent ?     43.  When  was 


142  THK  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I6OI, 

the  surjDlice  first  instituted  ?  44.  How  do  spirits  speak  ?  45. 
Whether  is  the  soul  by  traduction  or  infusion  ?  46.  Which  was 
the  greatest  sin  before  the  flood  ?  47.  Why  is  sprinkling  in  bap- 
tism more  lawful  than  dipping  ?  48.  Will  souls  be  equally  happy 
in  heaven?  49.  Was  Socinianism  in  St  John's  time  ?  50.  What 
is  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost?  51.  Was  there  any  shipping 
before  the  days  of  Noah  ?  52.  When  the  soul  leaves  the  body 
does  she  not  put  on  another  that  is  more  subtle  ?  53.  Whither 
went  the  ten  tribes  ?  54.  What  do  the  Urira  and  Thummim 
signify  ?  55.  Should  women  sit  promiscuously  with  men  at 
church?  56.  Are  there  any  absolute  decrees?  57.  Was  not 
Abraham  the  first  institutor  of  public  schools?  58.  Was  not  the 
creation  of  the  world  occasioned  by  the  fall  of  Lucifer?  59. 
AVhen  do  children  begin  to  commit  actual  sin  ?  60.  Do  children 
suffer  for  the  sins  of  parents  ?  61.  Is  dancing  lawful  ?  62. 
What  are  Gog  and  Magog?  63.  Are  the  torments  of  hell  eter- 
nal ?  64.  Where  is  hell  ?  65.  Was  Melchisedec  Christ,  an 
angel,  or  a  man  ?  6Q.  Is  it  possible  to  live  without  the  com- 
mission of  sin  ?  67.  Is  the  world  eternal  ?  68.  How  far  did  the 
benefits  of  our  Saviour's  death  extend  ?  69.  If  Christ  suffered 
for  all  men,  how  do  you  expound  John  xvii.  9  ?  70.  Will  the 
earth  be  destroyed  or  refined  ?  71.  Is  a  Dissenter  a  schismatic  ? 
72.  What  is  that  faith  without  which  there  is  no  salvation  ?  73. 
Can  faith  be  attained  without  the  assistance  of  grace  ?  74.  Does 
God  universally  pardon  on  condition  of  believing  ?  75.  How 
shall  infants  and  deformed  persons  rise  at  the  day  of  judgment  ? 

76.  May  a  man  who  has  taken  holy  orders  lay  aside  his  calling  ? 

77.  Does  a  regenerate  man  commit  sin  ?  78.  Is  it  possible  to 
fall  finally  from  a  state  of  grace  ?  79.  Is  baptism  a  means  of 
regeneration?  80.  Did  Christ  actually  descend  into  hell?  81. 
Do  the  English  come  from  the  seed  of  Abraham  ?  82.  Is  heaven 
promised  to  a  certain  number  ?  83.  Is  there  any  certainty  of 
salvation  in  this  life  ?  84.  Was  it  the  will  of  God  to  create  the 
world  from  all  eternity  ?  " 

These  are  about  a  tenth  part  of  the  biblical  and  theological 
questions  answered  by  Samuel  Wesley  in  the  Athenian  Gazette, 
and  are  given  here  for  a  twofold  purpose ;  first,  to  suggest  to 
youthful  readers  topics  to  think  about ;  and  secondly,  to  show 
the  difficulties  courageously  encountered  by  Samuel  Wesley,  and 
the  curious  and  daring  character  of  his  studies. 


AGE  29.]  "  THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."  143 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  gather  from  the  answers  to  the  nine 
hundred  biblical  and  theological  questions  in  the  Athenian  Gazette, 
the  principal  points  of  Mr  Wesley's  creed.  The  longest  theologi- 
cal articles  are  those  levelled  against  the  Baptists  and  the  Quakers. 
One  piece  alone,  written  against  the  former,  fills  nearly  fifty  pages 
of  the  Athenian  Oracle;  and  against  the  latter  there  are  several 
articles,  showing  that  the  Lincolnshire  rector  was  no  ardent  ad- 
mirer of  the  broad-brimmed  followers  of  George  Fox.  They  are 
charged  with  intolerance,  enthusiasm,  silliness,  and  with  holding 
dangerous  opinions  and  detestable  doctrines.  A  Quaker,  in  fact, 
was  a  mischievous  and  troublesome  compendium  of  all  sorts  of 
heresies.  Samuel  Wesley,  as  a  rule,  was  generous  and  liberal  in 
his  sentiments  respecting  others ;  but  some  sects  and  parties,  at 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  were  so  fanatical,  bigoted, 
bitter,  and  offensive,  that  he  found  it  difficult  to  regard  them  with 
the  same  fraternal  feelings  with  which  he  regarded  Christian 
brotherhoods  in  general. 

With  one  or  two  exceptions,  the  theological  and  religious  views 
of  Samuel  Wesley  were  as  Scriptural  and  as  sound  as  the  standard 
of  Methodist  teaching  contained  in  the  well-known  Sermons  and 
Notes  of  his  son  John.  There  may  be  a  difference  of  phraseology 
between  the  father  and  son,  but  their  doctrines  are  substantially 
the  same.  Our  space  forbids  lengthened  quotations ;  but  perhaps 
the  following  extracts  from  the  Athenian  Oracle  will  not  be  unac- 
ceptable, as  containing  statements  of  Scripture  doctrines,  and  as 
tending  to  exhibit  the  opinions  of  Mr  Wesley  on  some  of  the  most 
important  verities  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  on  some  of  the 
most  interesting  points  of  ecclesiastical  polity. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  authenticity  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  He  contends  that  the  Bible  now  used  "  is  the 
same  that  was  written  by  the  apostles  and  prophets,"  and  that, 
because  they  were  "  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God,"  the  Bible  "  is 
the  very  Word  of  God."  * 

He  also  had  an  unshaken  faith  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  He  argues  that  it  ''  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  invent 
fuller  or  clearer  expressions  for  the  proof  of  anything  in  question 
than  the  evangelist  St  John"  employs  in  favour  of  the  doctrine  of 
Christ's  divinity.  After  adducing  evidence  of  this,  he  concludes, 
with  an  air  of  conscious  triumph,  "When  I  see  all  this  an- 
*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  i.  p.  260.     2d  Edition. 


1 44  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1691. 

swered,  without  straining  it  into  perfect  incongruous  nonsense,  I 
promise  to  turn  Socinian."*  "The  Arians,"  says  he,-!"  in  an- 
other place,  "  in  some  of  their  confessions  of  faith,  did  grant 
that  the  Son  was  from  all  eternity,  by  such  an  emanation  from 
the  Father  as  that  whereby  the  light  proceeds  from  the  sun ; 
but  yet  contended  for  a  moment's  difference  between  their  exr 
istence — the  Son  receiving  His,  as  they  think,  from  the  Father ; 
whereby  they  unavoidably  fell  into  the  same  absurdity  which 
other  pretenders  to  reason  have  since  done — that,  I  mean,  of  a 
viade  God,  or  a  subordinate  Supreme."  Language  like  this 
is  unmistakable.  Samuel  Wesley  was  no  dubious  hesitator  be- 
tween two  opinions.  While  yet  a  youth  in  Mr  Morton's  academy, 
he  had  been  disgusted  with  the  Socinian,  Biddle  ;  and,  a  few  years 
later,  he  was  the  means  of  extricating  one  of  the  finest  of  intellects 
from  Socinian  meshes ;  for  his  own  wife,  Susanna  Wesley,  who, 
while  a  girl  in  her  father's  house,  had  reasoned  herself  into  the 
Socinian  creed,  acknowledges  it  as  one  of  the  great  mercies  of  her 
life,  that,  she  was  "  married  to  a  religious  orthodox  man,  and  by 
him  was  first  drawn  off  from  the  Socinian  heresy." 

Samuel  Wesley,  like  his  son  John,  was  a  moderate  Arminian. 
He  fearlessly  repudiates  the  doctrines  of  election  and  reprobation, 
"We  cannot,"  says  he,  "be  satisfied  by  any  of  those  scriptures 
which  are  brought  for  that  purpose,  that  there  is  any  such  election 
of  a  determinate  number  as  either  puts  a  force  on  their  natures, 
and  irresistably  saves  them,  or  absolutely  excludes  all  the  rest  of 
mankind  from  salvation.  We  think  there  is  no  one  place  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures  which  proves  that  so  many  men,  and  no  more, 
were  irresistably  determined  to  everlasting  salvation."|  He  be- 
lieved that  "  God  predestinated  those  to  salvation  whom  He  fore- 
saw would  make  a  good  use  of  His  grace,  resolving  to  damn  only 
such  as  He  foresaw  would  continue  impenitent." §  He  maintains 
that  "  God  made  man  upright,  and  a  free  agent,  and  that  God's 
prescience  presides  over  man's  free  agency,  but  doth  not  overrule  it, 
by  saving  man  whether  He  will  or  no,  or  by  damning  him  unde- 
servedly. II  "God  necessitates  no  evil  action,  yet  He  foresees  all. 
If  God  tempts  no  man  to  evil,  much  less  does  He  necessitate. 
Indeed,  were  He  to  do  this,  the  nature  of  man  would  be  destroyed, 
the  proposal  of  rewards  and  punishments  would  be  ironical,  preach- 

*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  i.  p.  418.  t  In  Notes  to  his  Life  of  Christ,  p.  221. 

X  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  i.  p.  178.       §  lUd.,  vol.  ii.  p.  111.        ||  Hid.,  vol.  i.  p.  58. 


AGE  29.]  "  THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."  145 

ing  would  be  vain,  and  faith  also  vain.  If  you  ask  us  to  reconcile 
all  the  differences  "  arising  out  of  the  doctrines  of  God's  prescience 
and  mail's  free  agency,  we  promise  to  do  it  when  philosophers  can 
solve  the  incommensurability  of  matter,  and  twenty  other  pheno- 
mena, and  make  them  agree  with  demonstrations  which  appear 
diametrically  opposite  unto  them.  In  the  meantime,  let  us  think 
soberly  and  modestly,  as  becomes  us  in  these  matters.  Let  every 
one  enjoy  his  own  sense,  so  he  makes  not  God  the  author  of  sin, 
and  let  us  all  cry  out,  '  How  unsearchable  are  His  judgments,  and 
His  ways  past  finding  out.'"* 

Mr  Wesley  believed  in  the  doctrine  of  universal  redemption ; 
in  other  words,  that  Jesus  Christ  "  atoned  so  far  for  the  sins  of 
all  mankind  as  to  make  them  in  a  salvable  condition,  or  to  repair 
the  ruins  which  were  made  by  the  first  Adam,  which  is  plain  from 
Rom.  V.  12,  18,  &c."t  "God  really  wills  the  salvation  of  all 
men,  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  the  liberty  of  man  and  His  own 
purity  and  justice;"  and  He  "has  also  used  all  the  necessary 
means  for  our  salvation  ; "  "  He  ofi*ers  pardon  of  all  sin,  and  right 
to  life  in  Christ,  to  all  men  without  exception,  on  condition  of 
believing  and  acceptance."  J 

He  further  believed  that  no  man  can  do  an  "  action  properly 
and  perfectly  acceptable  to  God  by  his  own  natural  abilities,  ab- 
stracted from  the  assistance  of  God's  Spirit,  but  by  His  common 
assistance  he  may  pray,  abstain  from  sin,  and  practise  duty ;  and, 
if  he  continues  in  these  good  actions,  he  will  have  still  more  aid, 
and  go  on  to  perfection."  § 

Respecting  the  doctrines  of  justification  and  justifying  faith, 
Mr  Wesley  writes  :  "  Forgiveness  of  sins  is,  at  least,  included  in 
justification,  nay,  is  the  main  part,  if  not  the  whole  thereof.  It 
may,  without  violence,  be  reckoned  a  convertible  term  with  it. 
Our  sins  being  pardoned,  our  being  esteemed  righteous  by  God, 
our  justification  through  our  Saviour's  merits,  we  think  are  but 
the  same  thing  in  different  expressions."!]  "  By  God's  justifying 
a  sinner,  is  meant  His  looking  upon  us  and  treating  us  as  just 
and  innocent  persons,  although  before  we  stood  guilty  of  heinous 
sins,  and  thereupon  liable  to  grievous  punishments."^  We  are 
saved  by  the  merits  of  Christ  Jesus ;  for  His  sake,  not  our  own ; 
and  this  we  look  upon  to  be  the  same,  in  other  words,  as  Christ's 

*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  ii.  p.  101.         t  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.  p.  531.         J  Ibid.,  p.  260. 
§  lUd.,  p.531 .  II  Ibid.,  vol.  iv.  p.  140.  1  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  455  . 

K 


146  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [1691. 

imputed  righteousness."*  "We  are  justified,  or  accepted  with 
God,  as  a  means,  by  faith,  or  a  true  belief  of  what  God  reveals,  and 
by  trusting  in  His  mercy,  through  His  Son."t  "  But  then  this  very 
faith  must  be  justified  by  works,  as  Abraham's  was,  for  it  would 
have  been  in  vain  for  him  to  have  pretended  he  had  believed  God's 
promise  to  him,  had  he  not,  in  obedience  to  His  command,  also 
offered  up  his  son  Isaac."  J  That  faith,  without  which  there  is  no 
salvation,  "  is  a  steady  belief  of  all  that  God  reveals,  especially  in  the 
gospel,  particularly  that  Jesus  is  the  Messiah,  or  Saviour  of  the 
world,  and  that  He  will  save  me,  if  I  depend  on  Him,  and  obey 
His  commands." §  No  follower  of  John  Wesley  holds  the  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith  more  clearly,  or  more  firmly,  than  did 
John  Wesley's  noble-minded  father. 

The  new  birth,  writes  the  clear-headed  and  thoroughly  ortho- 
dox young  clergyman,  "  is  that  particular  aid  of  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
which  works  an  entire  change  in  the  mind,  and  turns  men  from 
evil  to  good,  being  a  new  principle  of  action  in  them."|| 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  not  generally  known,  that  Samuel 
Wesley  was  a  Millenarian.  The  Kev.  William  Lindsay  Alexan- 
der, in  an  elaborate  article  in  the  "  Encyclopsedia  Britannica"  gives 
the  following  as  the  chief  tenets  of  the  Millenarian  creed  : — "  That 
Jerusalem  is  to  be  rebuilt,  the  temple  to  be  restored,  and  sacrifice 
again  offered  on  the  altar ;  that  this  city  is  to  form  the  residence 
of  Christ,  who  is  to  reign  there  in  glory  with  all  His  saints  for  a 
thousand  years ;  that,  for  this  purpose,  there  shall  be  a  resurrec- 
tion of  all  the  pious  dead,  that  none  of  the  Saviour's  followers 
may  be  absent  during  His  triumph  ;  that,  at  the  close  of  the  thou- 
sand years,  they  shall  all  return  to  heaven,  and  the  world  be  left 
to  Satan  and  his  followers  for  a  season ;  and  that  then  the  ge- 
neral resurrection  and  last  judgment  shall  take  place,  and  the 
history  of  the  world  be  brought  to  a  close."  In  vol.  iv.  of  the 
Athenian  Gazette,  the  No.  for  October  17,  1691,  is  entirely  occu- 
pied by  a  Millenarian  article,  which  had  been  specially  adver- 
tised on  the  Tuesday  previous,  and  the  following  extract  will 
show  substantially  the  opinions  held  by  Samuel  Wesley  : — "  W^e 
believe,  as  all  Christians  of  the  purest  ages  did,  that  the  saints 
shall  reign  with  Christ  on  earth  a  thousand  years ;  that  this  reign 
shall  be  immediately  before  the  general  resurrection,  and  after  the 

*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  i.  p.  455.  t  l^id-  X  Ibid.,  p.  456. 

§  Ibid.,  vol,  iii.  p.  531.  II  Ibid.,  p.  460. 


AGE  29.]  "  THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."  147 

caliiug  of  the  Jews,  the  fuhiess  of  the  Gentiles,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  Antichrist,  whom  our  Saviour  shall  destroy  by  the  bright- 
ness of  His  coining,  and  appearance  in  heaven;  that  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  thousand  years  shall  be  the  first  resurrection, 
wherein  martyrs  and  holy  men  shall  rise  and  reign  here  in  spi- 
ritual delights  in  the  New  Jerusalem,  in  a  new  heaven  and  new 
earth,  foretold  by  the  holy  prophets."  After  this  statement  of  his 
belief  follows  an  able  article  on  the  same  subject,  but  it  is  scarce 
within  the  province  which  we  have  prescribed  for  ourselves,  to 
attempt  either  to  refute  or  to  establish  the  truth  of  it. 

The  following  is  a  somewhat  startling  opinion  respecting  the 
future  state  of  the  righteous  and  wicked  : — "  They  shall  both  arise 
equally  immortal,  and  diversified  in  nothing  but  their  last  sentence. 
We  shall  then  see  not  by  receiving  the  visible  species  into  the  nar- 
row glass  of  an  organised  eye ;  we  shall  then  hear  without  the 
distinct  and  curious  contexture  of  the  ear.  The  body  then  shall 
be  all  eye,  all  ear,  all  sense  in  the  whole,  and  every  sense  in  every 
part.  In  a  word,  it  shall  be  all  over  a  common  sensorium ;  and 
being  made  of  the  purest  aether,  without  the  mixture  of  any  lower 
or  grosser  element,  the  soul  shall,  by  one  undivided  act,  at  once 
perceive  all  that  variety  of  objects  which  now  cannot,  without 
several  distinct  organs,  and  successive  actions  or  passions,  reach 
our  sense.  Every  sense  shall  be  perfect ;  the  ear  shall  hear  every- 
thing at  once  throughout  the  spacious  limits  both  of  heaven  and 
hell,  with  a  perfect  distinction,  and  without  confounding  that 
anthem  with  this  blasphemy ;  the  eye  shall  find  no  matter  or  sub- 
stance to  fix  it ;  and  so  of  the  other  senses.  The  reason  of  this  is 
plain  and  convincing;  for,  if  the  bodies  of  the  just  and  unjust 
were  not  thus  qualified,  they  could  not  be  proper  subjects  for  the 
exercise  of  an  eternity,  but  would  consume  and  be  liable  to  a  dis- 
solution, or  to  new  changes.  Hence  we  assert,  that  every  individual 
person  in  heaven  and  hell  shall  hear  and  see  all  that  passes  in 
either  state  ;  these  to  a  more  extensive  aggravation  of  their  tor- 
tures, by  the  loss  of  what  the  other  enjoy  ;  and  those  to  a  greater 
increase  of  their  bliss,  in  escaping  what  the  others  sufier."  * 

Such  are  some  of  the  chief  theological  views  that  were  enter- 
tained by  Samuel  Wesley.  Others  might  be  added,  but  space 
forbids.  He  has  been  almost  invariably  represented  as  holding 
the  principles  of   the  High  Church  party ;  but  nothing  can  be 

*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  i.  p.  3. 


lis  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l691. 

more  unfounded  than  this.  He  preferred  the  Church  of  England 
to  any  other  Church,  and  thought  its  doctrines,  rituals,  and  de- 
votions the  best  in  existence.  But  where  is  the  Methodist,  or  the 
Independent,  or  the  Baptist,  but  what  thinks  and  feels  exactly 
the  same  respecting  the  ecclesiastical  system  to  which  he  adheres  ? 
The  man  that  does  not  prefer  his  own  Church  to  any  other  Church 
is  a  man  without  principle ;  yea,  a  man  whose  principle  is  bad ; 
for,  in  matters  of  supreme  importance,  he  is  adhering  to  a  system 
of  ecclesiastical  doctrine  and  discipline,  not  because  he  thinks  it 
the  best,  but  to  serve  some  other  purpose — mercenary,  mean,  and 
miserable.  Samuel  Wesley  thought  the  Church  of  England  the 
best ;  but  he  was  not  the  narrow-minded  and  little-hearted  bigot  to 
unchurch  other  churches,  and  deny  that  so  far  from  being  equally 
good,  they  were  not  good  at  all.  Hear  what  he  says  on  both 
subjects : — ■ 

"  The  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England  we  entirely  embrace, 
otherwise  we  could  not  be  Christians.     We  are  ready  to  subscribe 
to  her  Articles,  taking  all  of  them,  as  we  are  verily  persuaded,  in 
the  same  sense  which  the  compilers  intended.     For  her  discipline, 
we  believe  the  essentials  of  it — Liturgy  and  Episcopacy — are 
agreeable  to  the  primitive  pattern  and  the  Word  of  God.     For 
her  rituals  and  devotions — we  are  sure  they  are  the  most  per- 
fect and  pure  that  any  Church  in  the  world  now  enjoys,  and 
dare  almost  add,  or  ever  did.      There  are  not  two  passages  in 
them,  which  we  would  desire  to  have  changed ;  though,  should 
the  authority   and   wisdom  of  Church    and   State   think  fit  to 
make  any  alterations   as   to   words   and   smaller  circumstances, 
for  the  sake  of  peace  and  union,  we  should  think  it  our  duty, 
modestly   and  gladly   to   submit."*      Wesley's   opinion   of    the 
clergy  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  : — "  It  is  not  strange 
that,  among   so  considerable  a  body  of  men,  there   should  be 
found   some  who   extremely  disgrace   their   character,    and   are 
highly  unworthy ;  but  it  is  notorious,  that  all  possible  care  is 
now  taken  that  the  clergy  should  lead  such  lives  as  they  are 
obliged  to  by  solemn  vow  and  promise ;    and  it  is  known  that 
those  who  do  not,  are  not  so  soon  preferred  as  perhaps  they  might 
have  been  in  former  reigns.     With  some  exceptions,  the  clergy 
of  England  are  at  this  time  as  considerable  a  body,  both  for 
piety  and  learning,  good  preaching  and  good  living,  as  any  in 
*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  i.  p.  165. 


AGE  29.]  "  THE  ATHENIAN  GAZETTE."  149 

the  world,  or  perhaps,  as  any  that  have  lived  here  in  any  age 
of  the  Church  since  the  apostles.  Of  all  those  country  parishes 
with  which  we  are  acquainted,  we  cannot,  in  fifty  or  threescore 
parishes,  think  of  above  three  or  four,  who  disgrace  their  charac- 
ter. So  far  from  it,  the  pulpits  are  filled  with  sober  and  ingeni- 
ous men,  good  preachers,  and  good  livers."* 

So  much  in  reference  to  his  opinion  of  the  Church  and  its 
ministers.  We  add  two  quotations  about  dissent : — "  A  Christian 
Church  becomes  not  more  or  less  Christian  by  being  national; 
but  if  a  National  Church  agrees  in  doctrine  with  the  doctrine  of 
Christ,  and  Dissenters  agree  in  doctrine  with  the  National  Church, 
neither  of  them  are  schismatics  from  the  Church  of  Christ."  f  And 
again  :  "  There  is  no  real  difference  betwixt  the  Church  of  England 
and  the  Presbyterians  as  to  the  manner  of  worship  and  preaching. 
They  are  really  one  as  to  fundamentals;  and  any  one  so  persuaded, 
may  with  a  safe  conscience  communicate  with  either.  Let  those 
that  keep  up  the  partition  wall,  take  heed  lest  they  are  thereby 
excluded  out  of  the  bond  of  charity,  which  makes  all  of  one  mind, 
and  partakers  of  the  same  privileges."! 

This  is  scarce  the  language  of  a  High  Churchman,  consigning 
Dissenters  to  the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  Almighty  God.  Samuel 
Wesley  was  of  a  temperament  too  painstaking,  too  ardent,  and 
too  sincere,  to  be  a  latitudinarian ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  was 
too  good  and  too  great  a  man  to  be  a  bigot. 

Before  leaving  the  Athenian  Gazette,  it  may  be  added  that  its 
writers  acted  in  great  harmony,  and  nothing  was  published  by 
any  one  which  had  not  the  approval  of  all.  They  held  meetings 
regularly  at  stated  times,  chose  a  moderator,  and  determined  con- 
troversial points  by  a  majority  of  votes.  If  any  member  hap- 
pened to  be  absent,  he  had  to  send,  except  in  some  particular 
cases,  his  papers  for  the  approbation  of  his  friends.  §  The  pro- 
ject was  a  great  success.  It  rose  superior  to  all  the  opposition  of 
its  opponents.  Anabaptists,  Quakers,  Usurers,  and  Lacedemonians ; 
and  gained  from  the  nation  increasing,  and  almost  general  ap- 
plause. II 

*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  iii.  p.  382.  +  Ibid.,  p.  97. 

X  Ibid.,  p.  76.  §  Ibid.,  vol.  iv.  p.  76.  [)  Ibid.,  p.  67-73. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MORE  LITEEARY  WOEK — 1692-1693. 

The  publication  of  the  Athenian  Gazette  was  begun  March  17, 

1691,  and  was  closed  June  14, 1697.  In  itself,  it  was  a  formidable 
undertaking.  The  questions  sent  to  the  writers  were  so  many, 
so  diversified,  so  curious,  and  so  difficult,  that  to  answer  them 
required  immense  reading  and  research.  And  yet,  in  the  midst 
of  the  publication  of  this  work,  the  Athenian  Society  courage- 
ously began  another,  even  more  extensive  and  more  arduous ; 
the  proposals  for  printing  which  were  issued,  in  the  preface  to 
the  third  volume  of  the  Athenian  Gazette,  October  17,  1691. 
The  work  was  to  consist  of  1 20  sheets  ;  it  was  to  contain  nothing 
but  what  had  the  approbation  of  the  whole  Athenian  Society ; 
and  the  price  per  copy,  unbound,  was  to  be  ten  shillings.  To 
some  extent,  it  was  similar  in  plan  to  the  supj)lements  attached 
to  the  first  volumes  of  the  Athenian  Gazette  ;  and  probably  this 
was  the  reason  why  the  supplements  were  dropped  a  few  months 
before  the  new  work  was  issued.     At  length,  on  the  6th  of  June 

1 692,  which  was  shortly  after  Samuel  Wesley's  removal  to  South 
Ormsby,  the  work  was  published  in  a  folio  volume  of  more  than 
five  hundred  pages,  and  was  entitled,  "The  Young  Student's 
Library :  containing  Extracts  and  Abridgments  of  the  most  valu- 
able Books,  printed  in  England  and  in  the  Foreign  Journals,  from 
the  Year  Sixty-five  to  this  time;" — to  which  is  added,  "A  new 
Essay  upon  all  sorts  of  Learning  ;  wherein  the  Use  of  the  Sciences 
is  distinctly  treated  on,  by  the  Athenian  Society,  London  :  Printed 
for  John  Dunton,  1692." 

Prefixed  to  this  volume  is  a  curious  and  fantastic  frontispiece, 
strikingly  characteristic  of  Dunton's  genius.  At  the  four  corners 
are  representations  of  Athens,  Rome,  Oxford,  and  Cambridge. 
At  a  long  table  are  seated  the  members  of  the  Athenian  Society, 


AGE  30.]  JIORE  LITEKAKY  WOEK.  151 

twelve  in  number,  Dunton  evidently  in  the  middle,  and  Samuel 
Wesley,  the  only  clergyman,  at  his  side.  Before  the  table  are  all 
sorts  of  characters  presenting  their  enigmas  for  solution.  One  is 
a  faithless  lady  in  a  mask,  come  to  inquire  how  she  may  convert 
her  faithless  husband  to  a  sense  of  propriety.  Another,  as  a 
fashionable  coquette,  with  a  spaniel  in  her  lap,  presents  to  the 
learned  Athenians  her  square-sized  billet,  and  awaits  with  self- 
complacent  impudence  an  answer.  A  moon-struck  lawyer  and  an 
honest  Jack  Tar  eagerly  ask  for  counsel ;  while  a  disciple  of  Eu- 
clid, compasses  in  hand,  and  studying  a  globe,  longs  for  a  mathe- 
matical solution.  A  poor  parson  inquires  how  he  is  to  get  a 
living  ;  and  a  whole  rout  of  fishwives,  thieves,  and  bad  characters 
clamour  for  advice  ;  while,  before  a  tripod,  filled  with  burning 
chestnuts,  is  a  monkey,  with  a  cat  in  his  paws,  making  her  pick 
out  the  nuts  on  his  behalf,  and  thereby  showing  the  cautiousness 
of  the  Athenians  in  answering  questions  likely  to  burn  their  own 
fingers. 

"The  Young  Student's  Library"  contains  the  substance  of 
above  one  hundred  volumes,  many  of  them  folio  in  size.  The 
extracting  and  condensing  of  the  contents  of  such  a  mass  of 
books  must  have  been  a  work  of  enormous  labour.  Very  able 
synopses  are  given  of  above  eighty  different  works.*  And,  in 
addition  to  these  reviews,  there  are  two  most  elaborate  articles 
written  by  Samuel  Wesley — one,  entitled  "  An  Essay  upon  all 
sorts  of  Learning,"  and  the  other,  "  A  Discourse  concerning  the 
Antiquity,  Divine  Original,  and  Authority  of  the  Points,  Vowels, 
and  Accents  that  are  placed  to  the  Hebrew  Bible ; "  and,  in  close 
connexion  with  the  latter,  are  six  Critical  Disquisitions  upon  the 
various  editions  of  the  Scriptures,  the  Polyglot  Bible,  Hebrew 
Grammars,  Hebrew  Lexicons,  and  Hebrew  Poetry,  all  of  which 
are  probably  the  productions  of  Mr  Wesley's  pen. 

From  the  foregoing  summary,  it  will  be  seen  that  "  The  Young 
Student's  Library"  is  a  remarkable  book,  evincing  an  enormous 
extent  of  reading  and  research,  and  displaying  an  amount  of  labour 
almost  incredible.  Many  of  the  volumes  analysed  are  quarto  and 
folio  in  size,  and  not  a  few  are  written  in  foreign  languages.  It 
is  impossible  to  determine  how  many  of  these  literary  condensa- 
tions were  made  by  Mr  Wesley ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
he  was  one  of  the  principal  contributors  to  the  work,  inasmuch 
*  The  titles  of  these  works  will  be  found  in  Appendix  C. 


152  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l602, 

as,  from  the  first,  he  had  been  one  of  the  chief  members,  if  not 
the  chief  member,  of  the  Athenian  Society ;  and  this  opinion  is 
strengthened  by  the  fact,  that  his  "  Essay  on  Learning"  is  placed 
as  a  sort  of  preliminary  discourse  at  the  very  commencement  of 
the  book  ;  while  his  article  on  the  "  Hebrew  Points"  occupies  an 
equally  prominent  jDOsition  in  what  may  be  considered  the  second 
section  of  the  volume. 

The  work  was  announced  as  "containing  the  substance  and 
pith  of  all  that  is  valuable  in  most  of  the  best  books  printed  in 
England  and  in  the  foreign  journals;"  whilst  its  object  was  "to 
provide  means  for  improving  the  knowledge  of  those  who  had 
not  the  ability  of  purse  to  arrive  at  a  learned  education,  and  to 
purchase  all  those  voluminous  books  which  treat  of  those  several 
arts  and  sciences  which  are  required  to  the  composing  a  scholar."  * 
The  preface  of  the  book  modestly,  and  not  untruthfully,  observes  : 
"These  treatises  are  not  only  pleasant  as  to  their  variety,  but 
useful  for  their  brevity ;  there  being  the  substance  and  value  of  a 
considerable  part  of  a  good  library  brought  within  the  compass 
of  this  volume  ;  which  as  it  will  spare  much  labour — a  man  being 
able  to  peruse  here  more  of  an  author  in  half  an  hour,  than  in 
half  a  day  in  the  author  himself — so  it  will  save  a  great  deal  of 
expense  to  such  as  would  be  master  of  the  knowledge  of  many 
books,  the  performances  of  the  authors  being  here  ejDitomised." 

It  has  been  already  stated  that,  in  this  remarkable  book,  there 
are,  besides  epitomes  of  the  works  of  others,  two  elaborate  articles, 
the  productions  of  Samuel  Wesley's  scholarship  and  pen ;  and 
these  are  of  such  interest  and  importance  as  to  justify  further 
remarks  respecting  them. 

The  "  Discourse  concerning  the  Antiquity,  Divine  Original,  and 
Authority  of  the  Points,  Vowels,  and  Accents  that  are  placed  to 
the  Hebrew  Bible,"  if  printed  separately,  would  make  an  8vo 
volume  of  nearly  250  pages.  In  the  introduction,  young  students 
in  divinity  are  strongly  urged  to  make  themselves  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  Hebrew  Bible  and  the  Greek  New  Testament ; 
and,  in  order  to  this,  they  are  earnestly  advised  to  master  the 
works  of  the  Jewish  Eabbins,  because  the  Eabbins  will  help  to  a 
right  understanding  of  many  difficult  Hebrew  words  and  phrases, 
and  will  explain  many  rites  and  ceremonies,  ordinances,  and 
customs,  which  are  but  slightly  mentioned  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 

*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  iv.  p.  56. 


AGE  30.]  MORE  LITERARY  WORK.  153 

tures.  From  them  will  be  obtained  the  best  explanation  of  pro- 
verbial speeches,  and  of  the  names  of  places,  sects,  moneys,  weights, 
and  measures ;  and  also  of  the  moral,  judicial,  and  ceremonial 
laws  of  Moses.  A  knowledge  of  the  Rabbinical  writings  is  also 
necessary  to  maintain  and  defend  the  purity,  the  points,  vowels, 
and  accents  of  the  sacred  text  itself.  After  this,  books  are  recom- 
mended as  helpful  in  attaining  an  acquaintance  with  the  Hebrew 
Bible — viz.,  Robertson's  "  First  and  Second  Gate  to  the  Holy 
Tongue;"  Jessey's  "Lexicon;"  Buxtorfs  "Epitome,  Thesaurus,  and 
Lexicon  ;  "  Bythner's  "  Lyra  Prophetica  ; "  Leusden's  "  Compen- 
dium ; "  and  Arius  Montanus's  "  Interlineary  Bible."  Wesley  also 
recommends  the  study  of  the  Mishna,  the  Talmud,  and  the  Rab- 
binical Commentaries  of  Aben  Ezra,  and  others.  He  likewise 
expresses  a  willingness  to  give  to  the  public  an  English  transla- 
tion of  these  Rabbinical  writings,  if  his  bookseller  received  suffi- 
cient encouragement  to  publish  ;  and,  in  another  place,  he  says : 
"  If  this  discourse  about  the  original  of  the  points,  vowels,  and 
accents,  finds  acceptance  and  encouragement,  I  intend  a  distinct 
discourse  upon  the  sacred  original  text  of  the  Old  Testament,  in 
defence  of  its  purity  and  perfection,  as  it  is  now  enjoyed  by  the 
Protestant  Church  ;  wherein  I  purpose  to  handle  all  those  curiosi- 
ties that  are  the  subject  of  critical  observation  about  the  same  ; 
being  very  willing  to  defend  our  religion,  and  the  rule  of  our  faith, 
to  the  uttermost  of  my  power."  * 

He  then  shows  the  vast  importance  of  the  points  of  the  Hebrew 
Bible  ;  contending  that  he  who  reads  without  the  points  is  like 
one  who  rides  a  horse  without  a  bridle,  and  knows  not  whither 
he  goes.  He  also  contends  that  his  book  is  required  and  oppor- 
tune, on  account  of  such  men  as  Capellus  and  Dr  Walton  having 
recently  published  the  dangerous  doctrine  that  the  Hebrew  points 
were  not  divine  in  their  origin,  but  were  added  to  the  sacred  text 
by  the  Masorites  of  Tiberias,  about  five  hundred  years  before  the 
birth  of  Christ.  After  this,  he  most  elaborately  refutes  the 
opinions  respecting  the  human  and  novel  origin  of  the  points, 
alleging  that,  with  one  exception,  there  is  not  a  single  Jewish 
writer,  who  makes  the  least  mention  of  the  Hebrew  punctuation 
being  invented  by  the  Masorites,  A.D.  500.  He  contends  that  the 
time  and  the  place,  when  and  where  the  points  are  said  to  have 
been  invented,  are  exceedingly  improbable ;  and  that  the  Maso- 
*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


154  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l692. 

rites,  to  whom  they  are  attributed,  were  unequal  to  the  task,  they 
being  a  set  of  magical  and  monstrous  sots — a  company  of  blind 
and  crafty  fools,  bewitching  and  bewitched  with  traditions. 

In  the  second  part  of  his  work,  on  the  Hebrew  points,  Samuel 
Wesley  proceeds  to  prove  that  the  points  are  at  least  as  old  as 
Ezra,  that  they  are  of  divine  original,  and  therefore  of  divine 
authority.  In  confirmation  of  this,  he  appeals  to  the  testimonies 
of  Jews  and  Christians,  and  answers  all  sorts  of  objections. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  give  any  adequate  outline  of  this 
most  learned  production.  Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that 
there  is  no  book  of  modern  times  in  which  so  much  learning  is 
condensed  into  so  small  a  space.  It  shows,  incontestably,  that 
Samuel  Wesley  was  a  most  able  Hebrew  scholar,  and,  though  at 
this  time  only  thirty  years  of  age,  had  gone  through  a  course  of 
learned  reading  to  which  but  few  scholars  of  the  present  age  will 
apply  themselves.  Gildon,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Athenian  So- 
ciety," remarks  that  Wesley  "  has  taken  notice  of  all  which  can  be 
raised  against  the  opinion  he  defends;"  that  he  had  "given  him- 
self for  many  years  to  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  and  original 
tongues,  and  to  Eabbinical  learning  in  general ;"  and  that  his 
"  performance  was  quite  equal  to  the  nobleness  of  the  subject." 
*'  He  has  executed  his  task,"  continues  Gildon,  "  with  a  great 
deal  of  strength  of  judgment,  force  of  argument,  and  profound- 
ness of  skill.  It  was  the  saying  of  a  great  man,  that  he  would 
easily  tell  the  progress  any  one  would  make  in  science  if  he 
knew  but  the  value  he  had  for  it ;  and  no  man  could  have  a 
greater  esteem  for  any  knowledge  than  this  divine  (Wesley)  had 
for  this."  He  considered  it  "  the  chief  and  obligatory  study  of 
men  of  his  character,  who  were  to  give  the  true  and  genuine  sense 
of  Scripture  to  the  souls  they  directed,  under  the  pain  of  woe  at 
the  last  tribunal.  His  treatise  is  accurate  and  elaborate,  and 
abundantly  satisfactory ;  and  it  were  to  be  wished  that  the  same 
great  man  would  oblige  the  world  with  those  other  pieces  of 
Rabbinical  learning  which  he  mentions  in  these  sheets.  No 
prospect  of  any  present  or  future  advantage  to  himself  induced 
him  to  engage  in  this  laborious  work,  he  having  generously  given 
the  copy  to  the  publisher  without  the  least  gratuity.  In  him 
learning  has  met  with  a  happy  temper,  an  innate  modesty,  and  a 
sweet  agreeable  affability  to  all  men ;  a  charity  not  stinted  to  fac- 
tions, parties,  or  religions;  but  universal,  like  that  of  the  first 


AGE  30.]  MOEE  LITEKAKY  WORK.  155 

institutor  of  our  holy  religion.  In  short,  the  virtues  that  this 
reverend  divine  has  made  a  part  of  himself  are  much  more  noble 
qualifications  than  that  extraordinary  one  of  his  learning."*  Such 
a  testimony,  from  a  man  contemporaneous  with  Samuel  Wesley,  is 
worth  recording. 

We  only  add  respecting  the  "  Discourse  on  the  Hebrew  Points," 
that,  in  the  preface  to  the  "  Young  Student's  Library,"  it  is  stated 
"  that  the  author  of  the  Hebrew  punctuation  has  retired  into  the 
country,"  (to  South  Ormsby,)  "  where  his  necessary  business  will 
take  up  a  great  part  of  his  time  ;  yet  whatever  letters  and  objec- 
tions shall  be  sent  to  him  about  his  performance  he  will,  notwith- 
standing his  business,  set  apart  so  much  time  as  to  maintain  what 
he  has  advanced,  and  to  answer  all  objections  whatever." 

Brave  Samuel  Wesley  !  None  but  an  empty-headed  braggart, 
or  a  great-minded  man,  conscious  of  his  strength,  would  have 
dared  to  give  a  challenge  such  as  this. 

The  second  piece  written  by  Mr  Wesley,  and  published  in  the 
"  Young  Student's  Library,"  is  entitled  "  An  Essay  upon  all  Sorts 
of  Learning."  A  few  extracts  will  tend  to  show  his  intense  pas- 
sion for  intellectual  pursuits,  and  the  wide  range  of  his  literary 
studies. 

Learning. — "  Learning  is  of  universal  extension.  Like  the 
sun,  it  denies  not  its  rays  to  any  that  will  open  their  eyes.  Other 
treasures  may  be  monopolised,  but  this  is  increased  by  diffusion, 
and  the  more  a  man  imparts  the  more  he  retains.  Eather  than  a 
wise  man  would  be  deprived  of  learning,  he  would  even  steal  it 
from  the  minutes  of  necessary  rest  or  recreation." 

The  Bible. — "  If  we  examine  nature,  and  anatomise  the  law 
written  upon  our  hearts, — if  we  peruse  the  volumes  of  the  ancient 
philosophers,  or  those  of  the  Brahmins  and  Chinese, — if  we  make  a 
strict  inquiry  into  all  their  rules  and  lessons  of  morality, — we  have 
a  compendium  of  all  in  the  sacred  writ.  For  abstruseness  of 
notions,  the  first  of  Genesis  outvies  the  Egyptian  philosophy ;  and 
for  elegancy  of  style,  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  and  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  far  exceed  the  eloquent  orations  of  Cicero  and  Demos- 
thenes. In  short,  there  is  nothing  here,  either  promised  or 
threatened,  commanded  or  forbidden,  but  what  is  godlike,  and 
worthy  its  divine  original.  Our  deists  have  nothing  to  object 
but  a  little  buffoonery,  and  it  would  be  a  pity  to  deny  them  the 
*  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  iv.  p.  60,  61. 


156  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l692. 

happiness  they  take  in  that,  or  any  other  short-lived  pleasure 
necessarily  arising  from  their  principles." 

After  a  brief  but  pithy  and  powerful  defence  of  revealed  reli- 
gion, he  recommends  to  the  biblical  student  a  list  of  both  English 
and  Latin  books  that  will  greatly  assist  him  in  his  studies,  includ- 
ing the  works  of  Poole,  Hammond,  Grotius,  Eusebius,  Hooker, 
Burnet,  Stillingfleet,  Lightfoot,  Sherlock,  Usher,  Barrow,  Du  Pin, 
Hales,  Jeremy  Taylor,  &c. 

His  next  article  is  upon  history,  of  which  he  writes : — 

"  History  gives  the  best  prospect  into  human  affairs,  and  makes 
us  familiar  with  the  remotest  regions.  By  this,  we  may  ascertain 
what  practices  have  established  kingdoms,  and  what  has  contri- 
buted to  the  weakness  and  overthrow  of  bodies  politic.  We  may 
see  all  Asia,  Africa,  and  America  in  England.  We  may  encom- 
pass the  world  with  Drake,  and  make  new  discoveries  with  Colum- 
bus ;  we  may  visit  the  Grand  Signior  in  the  Seraglio,  converse 
with  Seneca,  and  consult  with  Csesar.  In  a  word,  whatever 
humanity  has  done  that  is  noble,  great,  and  surprising,  either  by 
action  or  suffering,  may  by  us  be  done  over  again  in  theory,  and, 
if  we  have  souls  capable  of  transcribing  the  bravest  copies,  we  may 
meet  instances  worth  our  emulation." 

After  the  essays  upon  divinity  and  history  there  are  others  upon 
philosophy,  law,  physic,  surgery,  mathematics,  and  arithmetic,  all 
of  them  brief,  but  very  able  ;  and,  in  connexion  with  each,  a  list  of 
books  which  Samuel  Wesley  recommends  to  be  read  and  studied. 
In  these  lists,  Wesley  displays  his  taste  for  the  best  literature  then 
published,  and  also  the  immense  extent  of  his  own  reading  and 
research. 

In  his  essay  on  Poetry,  he  says,  "  Poetry  was  the  first  philo- 
sophy the  world  was  blest  with,  and  had  that  influence  on  the 
minds  of  men,  then  fallen  from  their  primitive  reason  into  the 
wildest  barbarity,  that  it  soon  brought  them  to  civility,  and  to 
know  the  dictates  of  reason  from  those  of  fancy." 

He  then  advises  "candidates  for  the  laurel"  to  "consider  the 
difficulty  of  being  a  good  poet."  "  Mediocrity  is  intolerable  in 
poetry,  however  excusable  in  other  affairs."  "A  young  poet 
should  never  be  ambitious  of  writing  much,  for  a  little  gold  is 
worth  a  great  heap  of  lead."  "  To  be  a  perfect  poet,  a  man  must 
be  a  general  scholar,  skilled  both  in  the  tongues  and  sciences, 
and  must  be  perfect  in  history  and  moral  philosophy." 


AGE  30.]  MOEE  LITEEARY  WORK.  157 

Sufih  was  Samuel  Wesley's  estimate  of  the  quaKfications  of  a 
perfect  poet.  Perhaps  it  would  have  been  better  if  he  himself  had 
observed  some  of  his  own  rules  more  strictly  than  what  he  did. 
Dunton  says  :  "  Mr  Wesley  had  an  early  inclination  to  poetry,  but 
lie  usually  wrote  too  fast  to  write  well.  Two  hundred  couplets  a 
day  are  too  many  by  two-thirds  to  be  well  furnished  with  all  the 
beauties  and  graces  of  that  art."  * 

In  Mr  Wesley's  article  on  "  Dialling,"  there  is  the  following 
beautiful  sentence  :  "  Time  is  the  greatest  treasure  in  this  world 
that  a  mortal  can  be  intrusted  with.  We  are  not  only  proba- 
tioners for  eternity  by  the  help  of  time,  but  even  the  little  interests 
of  this  world  are  managed  by  the  means  of  it.  To  divide  time  by 
dials,  clocks,  and  watches,  is  a  faint  imitation  of  God  Almighty, 
who  has  divided  the  year  into  spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter, 
and  even  our  life  into  days  and  nights." 

Of  Geometry  he  writes :  "  All  our  most  necessary  as  well  as 
most  noble  arts  and  sciences  depend  on  it.  None  of  the  mecha- 
nical arts  can  ever  be  brought  to  perfection  without  it ;  and  if 
painters  were  ignorant  of  proportion,  angles,  circles,  and  squares, 
all  their  works  would  want  beauty,  and  themselves  would  want 
satisfaction.  A  joiner  cannot  so  much  as  cut  a  round  table  unless 
he  understands  a  circle  ;  nor  a  carpenter  square  a  piece  of  timber 
unless  he  know,  by  the  rule  of  square  figures,  when  his  work  is 
finished.  The  watch  and  clock  makers  would  be  at  a  loss,  if  it 
were  not  for  this  science ;  and  no  builder  could  regularly  design  a 
fabric  without  a  knowledge  of  geometrical  problems.  Navigation 
and  gunnery  can  never  be  understood  without  geometry ;  and  to 
these  I  may  add,  fortification,  dialling,  music,  astronomy,  and 
surveying.  It  would  be  needless  to  say  any  more  of  the  advan- 
tages of  geometry,  here  being  enough  to  fire  the  mind  of  any  ino-e- 
nious  student  to  a  diligent  inquiry  into  it." 

Writing  on  Optics,  he  says :  "  'Tis  pleasant  to  undeceive  the 
eye  in  the  common  accidents  of  life,  and  to  see  it  approach,  in 
some  measure,  towards  that  certainty  of  judging  and  apprehendino- 
visihles  that  it  will  attain  to  at  the  day  of  resurrection,  when  it 
will  be  above  the  power  of  being  cheated  by  concave  or  convex,  or 
deluded  by  a  refraction  or  reflection.  This  may,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, be  accomplished  in  this  world  by  such  as  give  themselves  up 
to  the  study  of  optics." 

*  Dunton's  Life  and  Errors. 


158  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l692. 

There  are  other  articles  on  painting,  astronomy,  and  naviga- 
tion, and  glances  at  geography,  music,  architecture,  grammar,  and 
rhetoric.  The  general  "  Essay  on  all  Sorts  of  Learning"  concludes 
thus  :  "  Whoever  makes  a  trial  of  the  worth  of  learning  will  find 
that  all  encomiums  come  far  short  of  the  thing  itself ;  and  that 
those  only  can  best  reflect  upon  its  value  who  are  sensible  of  the 
enjoyment  of  it." 

Such,  then,  is  a  general  outline  of  the  contents  of  "  The  Young 
Student's  Library,"  published  in  1692;  but  no  one  can  form  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  work  without  seeing  it.  None  but  immense 
readers  and  careful  writers  like  Samuel  Wesley  and  his  Athenian 
friends  could  have  put  such  a  book  together. 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  Athenian  Society  to  have  followed 
up  the  publication  of  the  "  Young  Student's  Library"  with  another 
work — "A  New  System  of  Experimental  Philosophy  upon  the 
Four  Elements" — and  embracing  a  description  of  strange  appear- 
ances, noises,  strange  winds,  subterranean  steams,  waters,  their 
properties  and  inhabitants,  earths  of  all  sorts,  plants  and  trees, 
husbandry,  animals,  insects,  birds,  reptiles,  fishes,  extraordinary 
buildings  and  extraordinary  persons,  antiquities,  &c.  ;*  but  I  am 
not  aware  that  this  was  ever  issued. 

Contemporaneously  with  the  publication  of  the  "  Young  Stu- 
dent's Library,"  Mr  Wesley  was  employed  upon  another  work, 
which  has  never  yet  been  noticed  by  any  Wesleyan  biographer. 
In  vol.  vi.  of  the  Athenian  Gazette,  it  is  announced  that  the 
Athenian  Society  have  bought  the  right  to  a  "  Monthly  Journal 
of  Books,"  and  that  this  journal  will  now  be  carried  on  by  a 
"  London  Divine,"  under  the  title  of  "  The  Complete  Library ;  or. 
News  for  the  Ingenious ;"  and  that  it  will  be  issued  monthly,  be- 
ginning with  the  month  of  May  1692. 

The  work  was  published  accordingly.  We  have  seen  and  ex- 
amined three  of  the  volumes,  containing  between  four  and  five 
hundred  pages  each,  and  extending  from  May  1692  to  March 
1694.  The  numbers  are  divided  into  three  sections  :  1.  Original 
pieces ;  2.  An  account  of  the  choicest  books  printed  in  England 
and  on  the  Continent  of  Europe ;  3.  Notes  on  current  events. 

The  first  article  is  entitled,  "  A  Discourse  concerning  the  Inte- 
grity and  Purity  of  the  Hebrew  Bible  ;  by  the  Author  of  a  Dis- 
course concerning  the  Antiquity  of  the  Hebrew  Points,  Vowels, 

*  A  thenian  Oracle,  vol.  iv.  p.  Q5. 


AGE  30.]  MORE  LITERARY  WORK.  159 

and  Accents/' — thus  plainly  intimating  that  the  "  London  Divine," 
who  had  the  management  of  the  work,  was  none  other  than  Samuel 
Wesley.  Besides,  no  one  acquainted  with  Mr  Wesley's  mode  of 
thinking  and  style  of  writing,  can  have  any  hesitation  in  pronounc- 
ing him  the  author. 

He  maintains  that  all  religion  stands  or  falls  as  we  can  defend 
and  prove  the  integrity  of  the  Hebrew  copy  of  the  Bible ;  and  his 
principal  object  is  to  refute  the  opinions  of  Capellus,  the  leader  of 
all  those  who  say  the  Hebrew  Bible  has  been  corrupted.  The 
article  is  learned  and  able,  and  fills  twenty-four  small  quarto  pages. 

In  succeeding  numbers  there  are  kindred  articles,  evidently  by 
the  same  practised  pen.  One  is  on  "  Scripture  Chronology  ;"  an- 
other is,  "  A  Critical  Inquiry  into  the  Number,  Names,  Division, 
and  Order  of  the  Books  of  the  Old  Testament ;"  another  is,  "  The 
Ancient  Manner  of  Reading,  Writing,  and  Preserving  the  Law  of 
Moses,  as  an  evidence  of  the  unparalleled  care  taken  in  former 
times  to  preserve  the  Bible  in  its  purity  and  perfection  ;"  another 
is,  "  A  Scriptural  Account  of  the  Nature,  Original,  and  Divine 
Authority  of  the  Bible,  as  it  is  Canonical,  in  opposition  to  the 
Apocrypha,  and  all  other  books  of  human  composition  or  oral 
tradition ;"  and  another  is,  "  On  the  Evidences  of  the  Divine  Ori- 
ginal of  the  Scriptures;  on  the  Ways  and  Means  of  understanding 
the  Scriptures ;  and  on  the  Necessity  and  Excellency  of  their  use 
and  Study." 

The  three  volumes  contain  reviews  of  nearly  two  hundred  books 
and  other  publications ;  the  first  of  which  is  a  review  of  "  The 
Life  of  the  Eev.  Thomas  Brand ;  and  his  Funeral  Sermon,  by  Dr 
Annesley."  It  is  scarce  likely  that  the  whole  of  these  reviews 
were  written  by  Mr  Wesley ;  but  it  is  more  than  probable  that  he 
was  the  reviewer  of  this  work  of  his  wife's  father.  He  thinks  that 
"  Dissenters  and  Churchmen  will  soon  be  better  friends ;  and 
though  they  may  not  be  able  to  unite  so  perfectly  as  to  come 
under  one  form  of  discipline,  yet  they  may  give  one  another  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  be  without  any  other  heat  than  that 
of  holy  emulation,  which  shall  excel  in  practical  godliness,  and  in 
the  lively  exercises  of  those  graces  that  shall  be  most  beneficial  to 
mankind,  and  of  most  edification  to  the  Church  of  Christ." 

The  frontispiece  of  each  monthly  number  is  curious :  in  one 
corner,  is  a  clergyman  in  gown  and  bands  and  a  broad-brimmed 
hat;  in  another,  a  scholar  writing  at  a  desk ;  and  between  the  two, 


160  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l692. 

a  hive  of  bees,  surrounded  by  plants  and  flowers  ;  while  above  and 
below  are  three  mottoes,  viz.,  "  Sic  nos  non  nobis  mellificamus 
apes  ;"  "  Omnia  in  libris  ;"  and, 

"  All  plants  yield  honey,  as  you  see, 
To  the  industrious  chymic  bee." 

It  is  only  fair  to  add,  that  on  the  title-page  of  vol.  ii.,  the 
"  Complete  Library"  is  said  to  be  "  by  K.  W.,"  Master  of  Arts,  but 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  "  R"  is  a  misprint. 

During  Mr  Wesley's  retired  residence  at  South  Ormsby,  he  was 
engaged  in  other  literary  undertakings.  In  1693,  the  year  after 
the  publication  of  the  "  Young  Student's  Library,"  he  printed  a 
new  work,  entitled,  "  The  Life  of  our  Blessed  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ :  An  Heroic  Poem.  Dedicated  to  her  most  sacred 
Majesty ;  in  Ten  Books.  Attempted  by  Samuel  Wesley,  Rector 
of  South  Ormsby,  in  the  county  of  Lincoln.  Each  book  illustrated 
by  necessary  notes,  explaining  all  the  more  difficult  matters  in 
the  whole  history.  Also  a  Prefatory  Discourse  concerning  Heroic 
Poetry ;  with  sixty  copperplates.  London :  Printed  for  Charles 
Harper,  at  the  Plower-de-Luce,  over  against  St  Dunstan's  Church, 
in  Fleet  Street;  and  Benjamin  Motte,  in  Aldersgate  Street.    1693." 

The  volume  is  folio  in  size,  contains  349  pages,  and  is  divided 
into  ten  books,  consisting  of  nearly  9000  lines.  The  preface, 
which  fills  fourteen  closely-printed  pages,  is  an  elaborate  produc- 
tion, and  well  written.  At  the  close  of  it,  Wesley  says  he  knows 
the  faults  of  his  book,  and  would  have  mended  much  that  is  amiss 
if  he  had  lived  in  an  age  when  a  man  might  afford  to  spend  nine 
or  ten  years  about  a  poem. 

Prefixed  to  the  work  are  a  number  of  commendatory  verses  by 
Nahum  Tate,  poet-laureate,  and  by  others.  Tate  praises  the  book 
and  its  author  to  the  utmost  stretch  of  poetical  eulogium.  He 
regards  Samuel  Wesley  as  one  who  has  completed  the  task  which 
Milton  left  unfinished ;  and  represents  him  as  a  great  bard  emerg- 
ing from  solitude,  fired  with  rapture,  and  charmingly  unfolding 
the  great  themes  of  angelic  hymns,  and  weaving  wit  and  piety 
together.  His  spotless  muse  brings  fresh  laurels  from  Parnassus, 
and  plants  them  on  Mount  Zion. 

L.  Milbourne  and  Peter  Anthony  Motteaux  are  equally  lavish 
of  their  praises;  and  both  of  these  writers  were  men  of  mark. 
It  is  true  that  Pope  gives  Milbourne  a  niche  in  his  "  Dun- 
ciad  ;"  but  Dunton,  who  knew  him  well,  observes  concerning  him, 


AGE  31.]  MORE  LITERARY  WORK.  161 

"  Most  other  perfections  are  so  far  from  matching  his,  that  they 
deserve  not  to  be  mentioned  ;  his  translations  are  fine  and  true  ; 
his  preaching  sublime  and  rational ;  and  he  is  a  first-rate  poet." 
Motteaux  was  a  native  of  France,  and  was  driven  to  England  by 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes.  At  first,  he  kept  a  large 
East  India  warehouse  in  Leadenhall  Street.  He  was  master  of 
several  languages,  and,  during  his  residence  in  England,  he  acquired 
so  perfect  a  knowledge  of  the  English  tongue,  that  he  became  a 
very  eminent  dramatic  writer  in  a  language  to  which  he  was  not 
a  native.  On  his  birthday,  in  1717,  he  was  found  dead  in  a  dis- 
orderly house  in  London,  not  without  suspicion  of  having  been 
murdered. 

In  opposition  to  such  eulogists,  it  is  only  fair  to  state,  that 
Dunton  describes  Wesley's  "  Life  of  Christ"  as  "  intolerably  dull ;" 
and  it  has  been  asserted,  that  Alexander  Pope  had  so  mean  an 
opinion  of  its  merits,  that,  in  one  of  the  early  editions  of  his 
"  Dunciad,"  he  honoured  Wesley  with  a  place  in  the  Temple  of 
Dulness.*  The  work  was  also  fiercely  assailed  by  Samuel  Palmer, 
(to  be  noticed  hereafter,)  to  whom  Wesley  replied,-f-  "  I  know  my 
poem  is  very  faulty  ;  but  whether  it  be  in  itself  so  absolutely  con- 
temptible as  Mr  Palmer  represents  it,  I  desire  may  be  left  to  more 
impartial  judges.  If  he  will  be  so  kind  as  to  let  me  know  the 
particular  faults  of  that  poem,  I  shall  own  myself  highly  obliged 
to  him,  and  will  take  care  to  correct  them.     I  am  sensible  there 

*  The  edition  of  the  "  Dunciad"  in  which  Wesley  appeared  was  a  surreptitious 
one.     The  following  were  the  lines  printed  : — 

"How  all  the  suffering  brotherhood  retire, 
And  'scape  the  martyrdom  of  jakes  and  fire  ; 
A  Gothic  libraiy  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
Well  purged  ;  and  worthy  Wesley,  Watts,  and  Brome." 

The  author  of  "  The  Life  and  Times  of  Dr  Isaac  Watts  "  affirms  that  Watta  re- 
monstrated with  Pope,  and,  in  consequence,  his  name  was  deprived  of  the  unde- 
sirable distinction.  He  also  adds,  that  "  the  elder  Wesley's  name  was  probably 
omitted  owing  to  the  interposition  of  his  son  Samuel,  who  corresponded  with 
Pope,  and  was  highly  esteemed  by  him,"  (Watts'  Life,  p.  436.)  There  may  be 
some  truth  in  this.  In  an  edition  of  the  "Dunciad"  now  lying  before  us,  and 
published  in  1729,  the  last  line  is  printed — 

"  Well  purged,  and  worthy  Withers,  Quarles,  and  Blome." 

And  to  this  is  appended  the  following  note  : — "  It  was  printed  in  the  surreptitious 
editions,  '  W — ly,  W — s,'  who  were  persons  eminent  for  good  life ;  the  one  writ 
the  '  Life  of  Christ '  in  verse  ;  the  other  some  valuable  pieces  in  the  lyric  kind  on 
pious  subjects.     The  line  is  here  restored  according  to  its  original." 
t  Wesley's  Defence  of  his  Letter  on  Education  of  Dissenters, 

L 


162  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lC'.)3. 

are  too  many  incorrect  lines  in  it,  which  had  better  been  left  out ; 
but  I  remember,  too,  some  lines  struck  out  which,  perhaps,  had 
been  as  well  left  in.  I  care  not  if  I  oblige  him  with  two  or  three 
of  them,  which  were  in  the  original  but  were  not  printed,  and 
leave  him  to  guess  the  reason — 

"  Or  murmuring  deep  with  harsh  incondite  tone. 
With  eyes  reversed,  and  many  a  brutal  groan, 
We  are  the  favour'd  few,  the  elect  alone." 

Badcock,  in  the  Gentleman' s  Magazine  for  1784,  tells  us  that 
Wesley's  "  heroic  poem,  the  '  Life  of  Christ,'  excited  the  ridicule  of 
the  wits."  John  Wesley,  in  his  reply  to  this,  in  the  same  periodi- 
cal for  1785,  p.  246,  simply  states,  that  his  father's  own  account 
of  it  was,  "  The  cuts  are  good  ;  the  notes  pretty  good  ;  the  verses 
so-so."  Samuel  Wesley,  jun.,  ardently  loved  his  father,  and  ad- 
mired his  genius,  but  speaks  of  his  "  Life  of  Christ"  in  the  follow- 
ing measured  terms  : — 

"  Whate'er  his  strains,  still  glorious  was  his  end  ; 
Faith  to  assert,  and  virtue  to  defend. 
He  sung  how  God  his  Saviour  deigned  to  expire, 
With  Vida's  piety,  though  not  his  fire." 

John  Wesley,  who,  though  he  seldom  wrote  poetry,  had  as  fine 
poetic  taste  as  any  member  of  his  family,  observes  :  "  In  my 
father's  poem  on  the  'Life  of  Christ'  there  are  many  excellent 
lines,  but  they  must  be  taken  in  connexion  with  the  rest.  It 
would  not  be  at  all  proper  to  print  them  separate."* 

Dr  Adam  Clarke,  in  reference  to  the  same  production,  writes  : 
"  When  a  poet,  no  matter  of  what  abilities,  takes  for  the  subject  of 
his  verse  the  sayings  or  acts  of  the  Almighty,  as  recorded  in  the 
Bible,  he  must  of  necessity  fail,  speak  untruths,  and  sink  below  him- 
self. Who  can  add  to  the  dignity,  importance,  or  majesty  of  the 
words  of  God  by  any  poetical  clothing  ?  The  attempt  to  do  it  is 
almost  impious  ;  and,  in  the  execution,  how  many  words  are  attri- 
buted to  God  which  He  never  spake,  and  acts  which  He  never  did  ! 
The  life  of  our  Lord  was  never  found,  and  never  will  be  found, 
but  in  the  four  evangelists."  "f 

Dr  Coke,  who  published  a  "  corrected  and  abridged"  edition  of 
Samuel  Wesley's  "  Life  of  Christ"  more  than  a  hundred  years  after 
the  first  edition  was  issued,  says  in  his  preface : — "  I  found  the 
poet  had  carefully  collected  the  richest  materials,  with  a  sedulity 

*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family.  t  Ibid. 


AGE  31.]  MORE  LITERARY  WOEK.  ]  G3 

that  surpassed  my  expectation,  and  had  arranged  them  with  a 
degree  of  art  that  nothing  but  the  hand  of  a  master  could  have 
reached.  In  surveying  the  character  of  Christ  as  here  delineated, 
no  remarkable  incident  in  His  life,  from  the  cradle  to  His  cross, 
has  been  omitted  ;  nay,  if  we  even  take  a  wider  range,  every  event 
of  moment  is  noted,  from  the  espousals  of  His  mother  to  His  re- 
surrection from  the  dead,  and  His  final  ascension  to  glory.  In- 
deed, the  life  of  Christ,  being  closely  connected  with  both  time 
and  eternity,  presented  to  the  poet  an  occasion  to  draw  aside  the 
curtain  which  divides  the  visible  from  the  invisible  world.  Botli 
heaven  and  hell  are  permitted  to  burst  upon  us ;  the  former  to 
ravish  us  with  its  glories,  and  the  latter  to  alarm  us  with  its  terrors. 
Hence  angels  and  devils  pass  in  review  before  our  eyes  ;  relate 
what  is  past,  discover  their  condition,  perform  their  respective 
actions,  and  retire." 

Wesley's  poem  is  far  from  perfect.  In  many  places  it  flashes 
with  the  highest  kind  of  genius,  and  throughout  it  breathes  with 
piety.  The  reader  will  find  hundreds  of  lines  full  of  poetic  beauty ; 
but  then  he  will  find  others  tliat  are  extremely  tame,  and  literally 
limp  for  want  of  poetic  feet.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Samuel 
Wesley  wrote  too  much  for  his  writings  to  be  faultless.  "  He 
wrote  very  mucliiov  me,"  says  Dunton,  "both  inverse  and  prose." 
How  much  he  wrote  no  one  livino-  has  the  means  of  knowins;. 
Dunton  says,  "  he  Avrote  two  hundred  couplets  a  day."  He  might 
do  that  when  composing  pieces  for  the  Athenian  Gazette,  but  it 
is  incredible  to  think  that  this  was  done  when  he  was  composing 
"The  Life  of  Christ;"  for,  in  that  case,  the  whole  of  that  large 
folio  poem  would  have  been  begun  and  finished  in  about  three 
weeks. 

The  "Life  of  Christ"  was  first  published  in  1693.  With  all 
its  faults,  the  edition  was  soon  sold  ;  and  in  1697  the  author  issued 
a  "  revised  and  improved"  edition,  with  "  a  large  map  of  the  Holy 
Land,  and  a  table  of  the  principal  contents." 

The  plates  used  in  this  second  edition  are  said  to  have  been 
engraved  "  by  the  celebrated  hand  of  William  Fairthorn  ; "  but  if 
so,  they  must  have  been  engraved  long  before  the  first  edition  was 
published,  inasmuch  as  Fairthorn  died  as  early  as  1691.  Fair- 
thorn  was  an  ingenious  artist ;  but  Kved  a  chequered  life.  As  a 
royalist,  he  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
wars,  and  for  a  length  of  time  was  confined  in  Aldersgate.     His 


164  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l693. 

place  of  business  was  near  Temple  Bar,  where  lie  sold  not  only  his 
own  engravings,  but  those  of  other  English  artists,  and  imported 
a  considerable  number  of  prints  from  Holland,  France,  and  Italy. 
About  1680  he  left  his  shop,  and  went  to  reside  in  Printing 
House  Yard,  where  he  continued  to  work  for  booksellers,  until  a 
lingering  consumption  put  an  end  to  his  life  in  1691.  Such  was 
Samuel  Wesley's  engraver. 

From  the  preface  of  the  book,  we  learn  that  the  poem  was 
begun  in  Anglesea  and  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  afterwards  "  com- 
pleted in  several  parts  of  England."  Wesley  says  the  subject  was 
first  proposed  to  him  by  certain  of  his  friends,  and  that  he  greedily 
embraced  it ;  though,  at  the  time,  he  knew  nothing  of  the  rules 
propounded  by  the  masters  of  epic  poetry.  In  reference  to  his 
object  in  publishing  the  book,  he  writes,  "I  desire  to  recommend 
the  whole  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  all  the  articles  of  faith ;  all 
that  system  of  theology  and  morality  contained  in  the  gospel  of 
the  blessed  Jesus ;  and  to  vindicate  His  mission.  His  satisfaction, 
and  His  divinity,  against  all  Jews,  Turks,  Infidels,  and  Heretics." 

Perhaps  enough  has  been  said  respecting  this  folio  "  Life  of 
Christ,"  Let  the  curious  reader,  when  he  has  the  chance,  pur- 
chase it  for  himself.  The  sentiments  and  the  spirit  of  the  book 
cannot  fail  to  be  of  service  to  every  one  who  gives  it  a  fair  per- 
usal ;  whilst  many  of  its  lines  will  be  found  to  be  ponderous  with 
thought,  and  full  of  genius.  As  a  proof  of  this,  we  conclude  the 
chapter  with  four  quotations.  The  first  is  Wesley's  description  of 
the  glorious  scene  witnessed  on  Mount  Tabor,  and  is,  in  fact,  the 
first  piece  of  the  poem  : — 

"  To  Tabor's  mount  He  becton'd  from  the  sky. 
Two  glorious  saints  who  reigu'd  enthroned  on  high  ; 
Moses,  the  leader  of  God's  chosen  band. 
Who  nature's  laws  inverted  with  his  wand; 
With  him  Elijah,  who  sublimely  rode 
A  car  of  lightning  to  the  throne  of  God; 
Thus  Law  and  Prophets  their  perfection  find 
In  Him,  the  hope,  the  price  of  lost  mankind ; 
Thus  Christ,  and  Moses,  and  Elias  came, 
Their  persons  different,  but  their  views  the  same. 
Unrivall'd  beauties  deck'd  the  Saviour's  face. 
His  dazzling  form  the  circling  glories  grace; 
His  seamless  coat,  than  falling  snows  more  white, 
Enclosed  a  pillar  of  transparent  light. 
The  two  great  prophets,  who  beside  Him  stood, 
Array'd  in  light  their  modest  glories  show'd. 


!^GE  31.]  MORE  LITE.  ARY  WORK.  165 

Thus  stars  appear,  when,  twinkling,  they  display 

Their  feeble  lustre  to  the  orb  of  day ; 

Yet  Moses,  who  from  trembling  Sinai  came, 

Appear'd  encircled  in  a  robe  of  ilame ; 

While  great  Elijah,  half-conceal'd  from  sight, 

Shone  with  strange  lustre  through  a  cloud  of  light. 

Transports  of  joy  fiU'd  each  disciple's  breast. 

Too  big  for  utterance,  or  to  be  repress'd  ; 

Around  their  heads  celestial  clouds  arise, 

Which  rather  brighten  than  conceal  the  skies ; 

Compared  with  day  they  seem'd  divinely  fair, 

And  scatter'd  odours  through  the  balmy  air ; 

Form'd  of  materials  most  serenely  bright, 

They  shone  a  tissue  of  unsullied  light. 

The  three  apostles,  as  the  clouds  prevail, 

Felt  all  their  spirits  and  their  muscles  fail ; 

Their  loins  relax,  their  knees  no  strength  impart, 

And  fear  and  trembling  seize  on  every  heart. 

Low  on  the  earth,  dissolved  in  reverent  fear. 

They  heard  a  voice,  which  none  but  they  must  hear; 

The  voice  of  God ;  no  more  in  frowns  express 'd. 

With  lightnings  written,  or  in  thunder  dress'd. 

Such  as  at  Sinai  issued  forth  the  Law, 

And,  with  dread  earthquakes,  rock'd  the  plains  below ; 

But  all  melodious,  tranquil,  and  serene. 

Which  charm'd  like  music  this  delightful  scene; 

In  words  like  these  the  will  of  God  was  given, 

In  attestation  of  the  King  of  heaven  : 

'  I  thus  declare  Thee  my  beloved  Son, 

Whom  all  my  servants  shall  both  hear  and  own.'  " 

The  following  lines  on  the  Deity  are  what  no  one  but  a  philo- 
sopher and  a  poet  could  have  written  : — 

"  Before  this  beauteous  world  was  made, 

Before  the  earth's  foundations  laid. 

He  was,  He  ever  is,  we  know  not  how  ! 
No  mean  succession  His  duration  knows, 
That  spring  of  being  neither  ebbs  nor  flows  : 
Whatever  was,  was  God,  ere  time  or  place ; 
Endless  duration  He,  and  boundless  space, 
Fill'd  with  Himself,  wherever  thought  can  pierce, 
He  fiU'd,  Himself  alone,  the  universe." 

The  next  extract  refers  to  the  personality  and  divinity  of  our 
Saviour : — 

"  The  Father's  image  He,  as  great,  as  bright] 
Clothed  in  the  same  insufferable  light ; 
More  closely  join'd,  more  intimately  one 
With  His  great  Father,  than  the  light  and  sun. 

Equal  in  goodness  and  in  might. 

True  God  of  God,  and  light  of  light ; 


166  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l603. 

Him,  with  the  Father,  we  adore : 
There  is  no  after,  or  before." 

The  following  is  part  of  Wesley's  description  of  the  last  judg- 
ment : — 

"  The  awful  trumps  of  God !  a  call  they  soimd, 
Rolling  through  nature's  universal  round  ; 
That  signal  heard  from  the  dissolving  sky, 
Decrepit  nature  lays  her  down  to  die  : 
Not  so  man's  deathless  race,  who  now  revive. 
And  must  in  joy  or  pain  for  ever  live  ! 
Vast  heaps  on  heaps,  thick  orbs  on  orbs  are  hurl'd, 
Chaos  on  chaos,  world  confused  in  world ; 
Huge  spheres,  so  fast  each  after  other  roll'd, 
E'en  boundless  space  their  ruins  scarce  will  hold." 

With  all  due  deference  to  eccentric  John  Dunton,  we  sub- 
mit that  such  lines  are  far  from  being  "  intolerably  dull." 
They  were  too  hastily  written  to  have  the  polished  rotundity  of 
poets  like  Young  and  Pope ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  they  are 
full  of  poetic  fire.  The  reader,  who  is  in  search  of  poetic  thoughts 
rather  than  poetic  sounds,  will  find  himself  amply  recompensed 
by  a  careful  reading  of  Wesley's  "  Life  of  Christ."  We  can  hardly 
praise  the  poem  so  highly  as  it  is  praised  by  Nahum  Tate ;  but, 
at  the  same,  we  maintain  that,  for  learning,  energy  of  thought, 
vivid  imagination,  picturesque  phrases,  and  forceful  language  in 
general,  it  is  immeasurably  superior  to  scores  of  other  poems, 
which,  by  accident,  have  been  vastly  more  popular  than  it  has 
been.  Men  brand  Samuel  Wesley's  poetry  without  reading  it.  This 
is,  in  the  highest  degree,  unfair.  In  the  name  of  a  great  and  much 
injured  man,  we  protest  against  it ;  and  respectfully  request  that, 
for  the  sake  of  his  memory,  and  their  own  benefit,  they  would 
give  his  poems  a  careful  and  candid  perusal. 

In  the  second  volume  of  the  Athenian  Oracle,  p.  37,  the 
question  is  asked.  What  books  of  poetry  would  you  advise  one 
that  is  young  to  read  ?  In  the  answer,  after  recommending  David's 
Psalms,  and  the  poems  of  Cowley,  Herbert,  Chaucer,  Milton, 
Spenser,  Tasso,  Shakespeare,  Beaumont  and- Fletcher,  Ben  Jonson, 
Dr  Donne,  and  Dryden,  it  is  quietly  but  significantly  added,  "  and, 
if  you  have  patience,  Wesley's  Life  of  Christ."  Eeader,  the 
advice  is  worth  taking,  though  it  was  probably  given  by  Wesley 
himself. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WILLIAM  AND  MARY's  REIGN — 1689-1702. 

William  and  Mary  were  declared  King  and  Queen  of  England 
on  the  12th  of  February  1689.  Their  reign  is  marked  by  great 
events — such  as  the  siege  of  Londonderry,  Lord  Dundee's  insur- 
rection in  Scotland,  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  the  surrender  of 
Limerick,  the  massacre  of  Glencoe,  and  the  war  with  France  ;  but 
we  purposely  pass  over  all  civil  and  military  transactions,  and  con- 
fine our  attention  to  ecclesiastical  and  literary  afiairs,  with  which 
Samuel  Wesley,  as  a  clergyman  and  as  an  author,  was  more  closely 
connected. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  William,  after  his  accession  to  the  throne, 
was  to  give  orders  that,  in  his  private  chapel,  the  service  should 
be  said  instead  of  sung.  This  alteration  was  warranted  by  the 
rubric,  and  yet  it  caused  among  the  High  Church  and  half-popish 
party  a  great  amount  of  murmuring. 

Another  of  his  early  acts  strangely  enough  occasioned  much 
excitement.  Touching  for  the  scrofula  was  a  practice  which  had 
come  down  from  the  darkest  of  the  dark  ages,  and  William  dared 
to  sneer  at  it.  It  had  been  sanctioned  by  high  ecclesiastical 
authority,  but  even  that  did  not  deter  the  bold  monarch  from 
treating  it  with  contempt.  Charles  II.,  in  the  course  of  his  reign, 
touched  near  one  hundred  thousand  persons.  In  1 682,  only  seven 
years  before  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  William,  he  per- 
formed the  royal  rite  not  fewer  than  eight  thousand  five  hundred 
times.  Two  years  later,  in  1684,  the  throng  of  scrofulous  persons 
was  such  that  six  or  seven  of  the  sick  were  trampled  to  death. 
King  James,  two  or  three  years  after,  touched  eight  hundred  per- 
sons, in  the  choir  of  Chester  Cathedral.  The  days  for  touching  were 
fixed  by  the  Privy  Council,  and  were  solemnly  notified  by  the 
clergy  in  all  the  parish  churches  of  the  realm.  When  the  ap- 
pointed time  came,  several  divines,  in  full  canonicals,  stood  round 
the  canopy  of  state,  the  surgeon  of  the  royal  household  introduced 


168  THE  LIFE  AND  TIME3  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [I68O. 

the  sick,  a  passage  from  16th  chapter  of  Mark  was  read,  after 
which  one  of  the  sick  was  brought  to  the  all-healing  monarch. 
His  Majesty  stroked  the  ulcers  and  swellings,  and  hung  round  the 
patient's  neck  a  white  riband,  to  which  was  fastened  a  gold  coin. 
The  other  sufferers  were  then  led  up  in  succession,  and  as  each 
was  touched  the  chaplain  repeated  the  incantation,  "  They  shall 
lay  their  hands  on  the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover."  Then  came 
the  epistle,  prayers,  antiphonies,  and  a  benediction.  Such  was  the 
ceremony  of  touching  for  the  cure  of  the  king's  evil.  The  expense 
of  this  ceremony,  in  the  shape  of  coins  put  round  the  sufferers' 
necks,  was  little  less  than  £]  0,000  a-year.  The  whole  affair  was 
a  huge  piece  of  costly  and  superstitious  foolery,  ending  in  no 
beneficial  results  whatever.  We  dare  to  assert  this,  notwithstand- 
ing the  solemn  assurance  of  one  of  the  surgeons  of  King  Charles 
II.,  that  the  gift  of  healing  was  communicated  by  the  unction 
administered  at  the  coronation,  and  that  the  cures  were  so  nume- 
rous, and  sometimes  so  rapid,  that  they  could  not  be  attributed  to 
any  natural  cause  whatever. 

King  William  had  too  much  sense  to  be  duped,  and  too  much 
honesty  to  bear  a  part  in  what  he  knew  to  be  an  imposture.*  "  It 
is  a  silly  superstition,"  said  he,  when  he  heard  that,  at  the  close  of 
Lent,  his  palace  was  besieged  by  a  crowd  of  sick  persons :  "  give 
the  poor  creatures  some  money  and  send  them  away."  Only  on 
one  single  occasion  was  he  successfully  importuned  to  lay  his 
hand  on  a  patient's  sores,  "  God  give  you  better  health,"  he  said, 
"  and  more  sense  !"  What  was  the  result  of  this  abandoment  of 
royal  practice  ?  The  parents  of  scrofulous  children  cried  out 
against  William's  cruelty.  Bigots  lifted  up  their  hands  and  eyes 
at  his  impiety.  Jacobites  sarcastically  praised  him  for  not  pre- 
suming to  arrogate  to  himself  a  power  which  belonged  only  to 
legitimate  sovereigns.  And  even  some  of  his  own  friends  thought 
he  acted  unwisely  in  treating  with  such  marked  contempt  a  super- 
stition which  had  so  strong  a  hold  on  the  vulgar  mind.  But  Wil- 
liam was  not  to  be  moved,  and  was  accordingly  set  down  by  many 
High  Churchmen  as  an  infidel,  or  at  least  a  Puritan. 

As  soon  as  William  and  Mary  ascended  the  throne  of  England 
the  new  oath  of  allegiance  was  tendered.  It  was  conceived  in  the 
simplest  form,  the  words  "  rightful  and  lawful  sovereigns  "  being, 

*  William  tried  to  put  down  the  practice,  and  yet,  as  late  as  Lent,  in  171-,  Dr 
Johnson  was  "  touched  "  by  Queen  Anne. 


AGE  27.]  WILLIAM  AND  MAKY'S  EEIGN.  1G9 

upon  mature  deliberation,  omitted.  Notwithstanding  this  modifi- 
cation, several  members,  both  of  the  House  of  Lords  and  the 
House  of  Commons,  refused  to  take  it.  Among  these  were  the 
Earls  of  Clarendon,  Lichfield,  and  Exeter,  and  likewise  seven 
bishops,  including  five  who  had  been  sent  to  the  Tower  for  refus- 
ing obedience  to  the  mandates  of  James.  The  spiritual  lords  who 
refused  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  William  and  Mary  w^ere  Sancroft, 
the  primate,  Turner,  Bishop  of  Ely,  Lake,  of  Chichester,  Ken,  of 
Bath,  White,  of  Peterborough,  Thomas,  of  Worcester,  and  Eramp- 
ton,  of  Gloucester.  Above  four  hundred  of  the  clergy,  including 
some  of  the  highest  distinction,  followed  the  example  set  by  San- 
croft and  the  six  bishops,  and  thus  began  the  schism  of  the  Non- 
jurors,— a  term  which  became  as  prominent  as  that  of  Noncon- 
formists had  been  under  the  last  two  Stuarts. 

The  1st  of  August,  1689,  was  the  day  fixed  by  Parliament, 
before  the  close  of  which  all  beneficed  clergymen,  and  all  persons 
holding  academical  offices  must,  on  pain  of  suspension,  swear 
allegiance  to  William  and  Mary.  Above  twenty-nine-thirtieths 
submitted  to  the  law,  but,  in  general,  the  compliance  was  tardy, 
sad,  and  sullen.  Many,  no  doubt,  deliberately  sacrificed  principle 
to  interest,  but  they  had  not  fortitude  to  resign  the  parsonage,  the 
garden,  and  the  glebe,  and  to  go  forth  without  knowing  where  to 
find  a  meal,  or  a  roof  for  themselves  and  their  little  ones.  Many 
swore  with  doubts  and  misgivings ;  still  the  thing  was  done,  and 
ten  thousand  clergymen  solemnly  called  Heaven  to  attest  their 
promise  that  they  would  be  loyal  to  King  William.  The  clergy- 
men and  members  of  the  university,  who  refused  to  take  the  oath, 
were  about  four  hundred  in  number,  including  the  primate  and 
six  of  his  suffragans. 

Among  these  dissentients,  there  were  some  who  were  men  of 
scholarship  and  mark,  but  perhaps  it  is  scarce  too  much  to  say, 
that  there  was  hardly  one  who  was  qualified  to  discuss  any  large 
question  of  morals  or  politics  without  either  extreme  feebleness  or 
extreme  flightiness  of  mind.  The  following  are  the  most  distin- 
guished among  them  : — 

William  Sherlock,  rector  of  St  George's,  Botolph  Lane,  pre- 
bendary of  St  Paul's,  and  Master  of  the  Temple  ;  all  of  which  pre- 
ferments M'ere  taken  from  him  until  some  years  afterwards,  when 
he  took  the  oath  and  was  reinstated.  Dr  Sherlock  was  a  good 
man,  but  held  extreme  opinions.     He  was  the  author  of  several 


170  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l689. 

publications,  but  is  chiefly  indebted  for  celebrity  to  his  "  Practical 
Discourse  Concerning  Death/'  a  work  which  went  through  thirty 
editions  in  a  short  space  of  time,  has  been  printed  in  all  sizes  and 
forms,  and  has  been  applauded  by  the  most  able  critics. 

George  Hickes,  born  at  Newsham,  in  Yorkshire,  and  educated 
at  Northallerton,  a  fellow  and  a  tutor  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford, 
Dean  of  Worcester,  with  the  prospect  of  becoming  Bishop  of 
Bristol.  He  was  the  author  of  three  volumes  of  sermons,  and  of 
a  multitude  of  tracts  in  defence  of  himself  and  of  the  other  non- 
jurors. Macaulay  says,  "  Of  all  the  Englishmen  of  his  time  George 
Hickes  was  the  most  versed  in  the  old  Teutonic  languages,  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  early  Christian  literature  also  was  extensive." 

Jeremy  Collier,  lecturer  at  Gray's  Inn,  a  man  of  intrepid  cou- 
rage, indefatigable  industry,  and  unsullied  integrity  ;  the  author  of 
three  volumes  of  essays  on  moral  subjects ;  of  a  translation  of 
Moreri's  "  Historical  Dictionary,"  in  four  volumes  folio ;  of  an 
"  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Great  Britain,"  &c.  Macaulay  writes  : 
— "  Jeremy  Collier  was  a  good  man,  of  eminent  abilities,  and  a  great 
master  of  sarcasm  and  of  rhetoric.  To  his  eloquence  and  courage 
is  to  be  chiefly  ascribed  the  purification  of  our  lighter  literature 
from  that  foul  taint  which  had  been  contracted  during  the  Anti- 
puritan  reaction.  His  reading,  too,  though  undigested,  was  of  im- 
mense extent :  but  his  mind  was  narrow,  his  reasoning  singularly 
futile  and  inconclusive,  and  his  brain  almost  turned  by  priestly 
pride." 

Henry  Dodwell,  Camden  Professor  of  History  in  the  Oxford 
University,  a  man  of  great  learning,  of  extensive  reading,  and  of 
unwearied  application,  of  undissembled  piety,  and  unimpeached 
integrity ;  a  man  of  great  benevolence,  and  who  religiously  ab- 
stained from  almost  all  kinds  of  food  three  days  every  week  ;  and 
yet  a  man  of  paradoxical  notions,  narrow  religious  sentiments,  and 
who,  as  a  writer,  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  infidelity,  and  attacked 
revelation  in  the  disguise  of  a  friend.  The  brilliant  historian 
above  quoted  says : — "  Dodwell  had  perused  innumerable  volumes 
in  various  languages,  and  acquired  more  learning  than  his  slender 
faculties  were  able  to  bear.  The  small  intellectual  spark  which  be 
possessed  was  put  out  by  the  fuel.  Some  of  his  books  seem  to 
have  been  written  in  a  madhouse  ;  and,  though  filled  with  proofs 
of  his  immense  reading,  degrade  him  to  the  level  of  Ludowich 
Muggleton.     He  published  a  treatise  in  which  he  maintained  that 


AGE  27.]  WILLIAM  AND  MAHY'S  EEIGX,  171 

a  marriage  between  a  member  of  the  Cliiirch  of  England  and  a 
Dissenter  was  a  nullity,  and  that  the  couple  were  in  the  sight  of 
Heaven  guilty  of  adultery.  He  defended  the  use  of  instrumental 
music  in  public  worship,  on  the  ground  that  the  notes  of  the  organ 
had  a  power  to  counteract  the  influence  of  devils  on  the  spinal 
marrow  of  human  beings.  He  further  maintained  that  our  souls 
are  naturally  mortal,  and  that  the  gift  of  immortality  is  conveyed 
in  the  sacrament  of  baptism  ;  but,  in  order  to  the  efficacy  of  the 
sacrament,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  water  be  poured, 
and  the  words  be  pronounced  by  a  priest  who  has  been  ordained 
by  a  bishop." 

John  Kettlewell,  born  at  Northallerton,  fellow  and  tutor  of 
Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  domestic  chaplain  of  the  Countess  of 
Bedford,  and  rector  of  Coleshill  in  WarAvickshire ;  a  celebrated 
preacher,  a  laborious  writer ;  learned  without  being  proud,  and 
wise  without  being  cunning  ;  devout  without  affectation,  religious 
without  morosity,  and  courteous  without  flattery.  His  works, 
which  were  numerous,  were  published  in  two  volumes  folio. 

Charles  Leslie,  chancellor  of  the  cathedral  church  of  the  diocese 
of  Connor,  one  of  the  ablest  champions  the  Non-jurors  had  ;  a  man 
of  extensive  learning  and  great  merit,  and  the  well-known  author 
of  "  A  Short  and  Easy  Method  with  the  Deists." 

To  the  above,  of  course,  must  be  added  the  primate  and  the 
six  bishops.  Dr  Birch,  in  drawing  Bancroft's  character,  says : — 
"  He  was  slow,  timorous,  and  narrow-spirited ;  but  at  the  same 
time  a  good,  honest,  and  well-meaning  man.  He  was  laborious  in 
his  studies,  and  had  written,  perhaps,  more  with  his  own  hand 
than  any  person  of  his  time.  But  the  three  sermons  which  he 
published  give  us  a  very  low  idea  of  his  taste  and  judgment,  and 
are  more  suitable  to  a  disciple  of  Bishop  Andrews  than  a  contem- 
porary of  Dr  Tillotson."  Turner,  Bishop  of  Ely,  was  a  man  of 
higher  position  than  of  intellect.  Lake,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  is 
also  unknown  to  fame.  Ken,  Bishoj)  of  Bath,  in  some  respects 
was  a  man  of  mark  ;  his  works,  all  of  a  theological  and  practical 
turn,  were  published  in  four  volumes  octavo.  He  was  a  man  of 
great  integrity  and  courage  ;  and,  though  deprived  of  his  bishopric, 
to  the  day  of  his  death  signed  himself  "  late  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells."  He  died  in  1710,  having  been  in  the  habit  for  many 
years  of  travelling  with  his  shroud  in  his  portmanteau,  and  which 
he  always  put  on  when  attacked  by  illness.     White  of  Peter- 


172  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l689. 

borough  is  scarce  worth  mentioning.  Thomas  of  Worcester  died 
during  the  first  year  of  Wilham  and  Mary's  reign  ;  and  of  Pramp- 
ton  of  Gloucester  we  know  nothing  which  is  worth  relating. 

These,  then,  were  the  principal  men  among  the  Non-jurors ; 
and  these,  with  four  hundred  clergymen,  forfeited  their  ecclesias- 
tical benefices,  and  formed  a  sort  of  non-juring  church,  avowedly 
Jacobite  in  its  political  predilections  and  principles,  and,  which 
for  many  years,  waged  a  fierce  controversy  with  the  Establishment 
on  the  theological  aspects  of  the  question  which  divided  them. 
The  non-juring  system  had  a  few  lay-adherents,  but  it  extended 
beyond  the  clergy  only  to  a  very  limited  extent.  The  new  sect 
was  a  sect  of  preachers  without  hearers.  A  few  had  independent 
means.  Some  lived  by  literature ;  one  or  two  practised  physic. 
Thomas  Wagstaffe,  for  example,  who  had  been  chancellor  of  Lich- 
field, had  many  patients,  and  made  himself  conspicuous  among 
them  by  always  visiting  them  in  full  canonicals.  But  these  were 
exceptions.  Most  of  the  Non-jurors  found  themselves  thrown  on 
the  world  with  nothing  to  eat  and  nothing  to  do.  They  naturally 
degenerated  into  beggars  and  loungers,  and  many  of  them  became 
domesticated  as  chaplains,  tutors,  and  spiritual  directors  in  the 
houses  of  opulent  Jacobites.*  The  schism  of  the  Non-jurors,  how- 
ever, led  to  great  changes  among  the  occupants  of  Church  offices  ; 
and,  before  the  end  of  the  third  year  of  King  William's  reign,  he 
had  issued  no  fewer  than  eighteen  conges  for  the  election  of  new 
bishops.  During  this  brief  period,  sixteen  new  prelates,  all  in- 
debted for  their  promotion  to  the  existing  government,  and  recom- 
mended by  their  attachment  to  the  principles  of  the  Eevolution, 
were  introduced  into  the  House  of  Lords  ;  and  of  the  whole  twenty- 
six  sees  then  existing,  only  ten  were  left  in  the  possession  of  per- 
sons who  had  been  bishops  in  the  reign  of  James.f 

On  the  24th  of  May  1G89,  the  Act  of  Toleration  became  law. 
This  act,  long  considered  as  the  Great  Charter  of  religious  liberty, 
has  since  been  extensively  modified,  and  is  hardly  known  to  the 
present  generation  except  by  name.  The  several  statutes  passed 
between  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  Eevolution, 
requiring  all  people,  under  severe  penalties,  to  attend  the  services 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  to  abstain  from  attending  conven- 
ticles, were  left  unrepealed ;  but  provision  was  made  that  they 
should  not  be  construed  to  extend  to  any  person,  who  should 
*  Macaulay.  t  Knight's  History  of  England. 


AGE  27.]  WILLIAAI  AND  MAEY'S  REIGN.  iTo 

testify  his  loyalty  by  taking  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy, 
and  his  protestantism,  by  subscribing  the  declaration  against 
transubstantiation.  The  severe  Act  of  Uniformity,  the  Five  Mile 
Act,  and  the  Conventicle  Act  were  not  repealed,  but  merely 
relaxed  ;  it  being  provided  that  dissenting  ministers  might  preach, 
if  they  professed,  under  their  hand,  their  belief  in  the  Articles  of 
the  Church  of  England,  with  a  few  exceptions,  such  as,  that  the 
Church  has  power  to  regulate  ceremonies,  that  the  doctrines  in 
the  Book  of  Homilies  are  sound,  and  that  there  is  nothing  super- 
stitious and  idolatrous  in  the  ordination  service.  But  unless  the 
minister  subscribed  thirty-four  out  of  the  thirty-nine  Articles, 
and  the  greater  part  of  two  other  Articles,  he  could  not  preach 
without  incurring  all  the  punishments  which  the  cavaliers,  in  the 
day  of  their  power  and  vengeance,  had  devised  for  the  tormenting 
and  ruining  of  schismatical  teachers.  Such  were  the  terms  on 
which  the  Protestant  Dissenters  of  England  were,  for  the  first 
time,  permitted  by  law  to  worship  God  according  to  their  own 
consciences.  They  were,  on  the  above  conditions,  allowed  to  attend 
their  own  places  of  worship,  provided  they  were  duly  registered, 
and  had  not  the  doors  locked  or  barred.  They  were  protected 
against  hostile  intrusion,  and  it  was  made  a  penal  offence  to  enter 
a  meeting-house  for  the  purpose  of  molesting  a  congregation. 
The  only  classes  of  religionists  excepted  from  the  benefits  of  this 
act  were  the  Papists  and  Socinians.* 

Many  of  the  Dissenters  were  still  dissatisfied,  and  wished  other 
matters  of  grievance  to  be  settled  in  parliament.  Accordingly, 
what  was  called  the  "  Comprehension  Bill"  was  brought  into  the 
House  of  Lords.  The  chief  object  of  this  bill  was  to  admit  Presby- 
terian ministers  into  the  Church,  without  compelling  them  to  ac- 
knowledge the  invalidity  of  their  former  ordination  ;  and  it  also 
proposed  to  allow  certain  ceremonial  forms  in  public  worship  to 
be  observed  or  omitted  at  discretion. 

This  bill  passed  the  House  of  Lords ;  but  the  Commons  con- 
sidered the  question  as  more  suitable  for  a  convocation ;  and  the 
Lords  concurred  in  an  address  to  the  throne  to  that  effect. 

To  prepare  the  way  for  convocation  a  royal  commission  was 
issued,  authorising  certain  individuals  to  meet  and  propose  altera- 
tions in  the  Liturgy  and  Canons,  and  to  consider  other  matters 
connected  with  the  Church.     The  commissioners  thus  appointed 

♦  Knight's  History  of  England,  and  Macaulay's  History. 


17-t  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l689. 

were  Lamplugh,  Compton,  Mew,  Lloyd,  Sprat,  Smitli,  Trekwney, 
Burnet,  Humphreys,  Stratford,  all  bishops  at  the  time ;  also  Still- 
ingfleet,  Patrick,  Tillotson,  Sharp,  Hall,  Beveridge,  Tennison,  Fow- 
ler, Grove,  and  Williams,  who  were  subsequently  raised  to  the 
Episcopal  bench ;  and  likewise  Meggot,  Kidder,  Aldridge,  Jane, 
Beaumont,  Montague,  Goodman,  Battely,  Alston,  and  Scott,  who, 
though  distinguished  men,  never  attained  to  prelatical  honours. 

The  commissioners  frequently  met,  but  some  of  the  members 
absented  themselves,  especially  Dr  Jane,  the  Regius  Professor  of 
Divinity  in  Oxford,  on  the  ground  that  alterations  were  not  re- 
quired, and  that  the  present  was  not  the  season  for  such  discus- 
sions. Burnet  says,  "  We  had  before  us  all  the  books  and  papers 
that  the  Nonconformists  had  at  any  time  offered,  setting  forth  their 
demands,  together  with  many  advices  and  propositions  which  had 
been  made  at  several  times  by  most  of  the  best  and  most  learned 
of  our  divines  ;  and  so  we  prepared  a  scheme  to  be  laid  before  con- 
vocation," 

The  following  are  some  of  the  alterations  that  were  proposed  : — 
Chanting  to  be  discontinued.  Apochryphal  lessons  to  be  left  out 
of  the  calendar.  The  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism  to  be  omitted 
when  desired.  The  sacramental  elements  to  be  administered  in 
pews  to  those  who  might  object  to  kneeling.  The  absolution  to  be 
read  by  deacons.  The  Gloria  Patri  not  to  be  repeated  at  the  end 
of  every  psalm.  In  the  Te  Deum  the  words  only-begotten  Son  to 
be  substituted  for  thine  honourable,  true,  and  only  Son.  All  titles 
of  the  king  and  queen  to  be  omitted,  and  the  word  "  sovereign  " 
only  used.  The  Collects  to  be  revised  by  Patrick.  Sponsors  to  be 
disused  if  desired.  The  great  festivals,  as  a  rule,  to  be  retained ; 
but  it  was  not  thought  desirable  that  St  Valentine,  St  Chad,  St 
Swithin,  St  Dunstan,  and  St  Alphage,  should  share  the  honours 
of  St  John  and  St  Paul.  The  Athanasian  creed  to  be  kept  in  the 
Prayer-Book,  but  Stillingfleet  was  to  draw  up  a  rubric,  declaring 
that  the  damnatory  clauses  were  to  be  understood  to  apply  only 
to  such  as  obstinately  denied  the  substance  of  the  Christian  faith. 
The  point  of  greatest  difficulty  was  that  of  re-ordination ;  but  it 
was  at  last  agreed  that  the  hypothetical  fonn  should  be  adopted 
in  the  case  of  Dissenters,  as  in  the  case  of  uncertain  baptism,  in 
these  words  "  If  thou  art  not  already  ordained,  I  ordain  thee." 
Such  were  some  of  the  alterations  proposed  by  the  commissioners.* 

*  See  Lathbury's  History  of  Convocation. 


AGE  27.]  WILLIAM  AND  MAEY'S  EEIGN.  175 

It  mattered  little,  however,  whether  the  recommendations  of  the 
commissioners  were  good  or  bad.  They  were  all  doomed  before 
they  were  published ;  for  the  clergy  were  all  smarting  from  being 
recently  compelled  to  take  the  oaths,  and  were  resolved  to  defeat 
a  favourite  scheme  of  that  government  which  had  exacted  from 
them,  under  severe  penalties,  a  submission  not  easily  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  their  conscience  or  their  pride. 

The  convocation,  it  may  be  observed,  though  regularly  assem- 
bled with  every  parliament  since  the  Restoration,  had  done  no 
business  since  the  year  1G62 ;  so  that  the  members  were  detained 
in  town,  at  considerable  expense,  during  the  session,  merely  to  go 
through  the  parade  of  reading  the  church  service  in  Latin ;  but 
now  it  was  proposed  to  submit  to  their  consideration  most  im- 
portant changes. 

The  convocation,  summoned  by  the  writ  of  King  William, 
assembled  on  the  21st  of  November  1689.  Compton  was  in  the 
chair.  Beveridge  preached  a  Latin  sermon,  in  which  he  warmly 
eulogised  the  existing  system,  and  yet  declared  himself  favourable 
to  a  moderate  reform.  The  struggle  between  the  advocates  for 
change  and  those  who  wished  to  preserve  the  Liturgy  in  its  pre- 
sent state  commenced  at  the  very  outset,  in  the  election  of  a  pro- 
locutor. Tillotson,  who  was  known  to  speak  the  sense  both  of 
the  king  and  queen,  and  was  also  supported  by  the  government, 
was  proposed  by  Dr  Sharp,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  York ;  but 
the  election  of  Dr  Jane  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  two  to  one. 
Jane,  of  course,  belonged  to  the  High-Church  party.  He  had 
borne  a  chief  part  in  framing  that  decree  by  which  the  University 
of  Oxford  ordered  the  works  of  Milton  to  be  publicly  burned  in 
the  schools  ;  and  yet  the  same  man  had  repaired  to  the  head-quar- 
ters of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  had  assured  his  Highness  that 
Oxford  would  willingly  coin  her  plate  for  the  support  of  the  war 
against  her  oppressor.  For  a  short  time  Jane  had  been  regarded  as 
a  Whig,  now  he  was  a  Tory.  He  had  demanded  the  see  of  Exeter 
as  a  reward  due  to  his  services,  but  had  been  refused ;  and  hence 
his  changed  sentiments.  At  the  time  several  epigrams  were  written 
on  the  double-faced  Janus,  who,  having  got  a  professorship  by 
looking  one  way,  now  hoped  to  get  a  bishopric  by  looking  another. 

On  November  25th  the  prolocutor  was  presented  to  the  Upper 
House,  on  which  occasion  he  expatiated  on  the  excellency  of  the 
Church  of  England,  as  at  present  constituted,  intimating  that  no 


17G  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1089.' 

amendments  could  be  made,  and  closing  with  the  words,  nolumus 
leges  Anglice  mutari.  The  Bishop  of  London,  as  president  of 
the  Upper  House,  repKed  that  the  clergy  ought  to  be  prepared  to 
make  concessions  in  matters  not  essential,  and  that  it  was  their 
duty  to  show  some  indulgence  to  the  Dissenters  under  King 
William,  since  some  of  the  bishops  and  clergy  had  pledged  them- 
selves to  do  so  in  their  addresses  to  King  James. 

At  the  next  meeting,  the  Bishop  of  London  informed  the  con- 
vocation that  the  royal  commission  was  defective,  inasmuch  as  the 
great  seal  had  not  been  attached  to  it.  They  were,  therefore,  pro- 
rogued until  the  defect  was  supplied.  In  the  interval,  great  exer- 
tions were  made  by  the  government  to  bring  over  some  of  the 
stifFest  opponents  in  the  Lower  House,  but  with  small  success. 
On  the  4th  of  December,  the  royal  commission  was  communicated 
to  the  convocation,  by  which  they  were  authorised  to  act.  The 
commission  stated  that,  "  as  rites  and  ceremonies  are  indifferent 
and  alterable,"  changes  might  be  made  according  to  the  exigencies 
of  times  and  places,  that  it  was  desirable  that  the  canons  should 
be  reviewed,  and  the  ecclesiastical  courts  reformed.  The  convo- 
cation was  accordingly  empowered  to  treat  of  alterations,  and  to 
form  canons  and  constitutions,  to  be  submitted  to  his  Majesty. 

The  king  also  sent  a  message,  by  the  Earl  of  Nottingham,  in 
which  he  expressed  his  hope  that  convocation  would  not  "  disap- 
point his  good  intentions,  or  deprive  the  Church  of  any  benefit 
from  their  consultations." 

Of  course,  it  was  necessary  to  acknowledge  the  royal  message, 
by  an  address  to  his  Majesty.  This  gave  rise  to  vexatious  and 
most  disreputable  squabbles ;  and  the  result  was,  that,  without  any 
discussion  whatever  on  the  important  matters  that  had  been  recom- 
mended by  the  royal  commissioners,  convocation  was  dissolved  on 
February  6, 1690  ;  nor  was  it  suffered  to  meet  again  for  the  trans- 
action of  business  for  the  next  ten  years.  Thus  ended  the  project 
for  comprehending  Dissenters  within  the  pale  of  the  Church  of 
England,  the  last  attempt  of  the  kind  that  has  been  made.* 

Erom  this  time  dates  the  long  struggle  between  the  two  great 
parties  of  Conformists.  These  parties,  indeed,  had,  under  various 
forms,  existed  within  the  Anglican  communion  ever  since  the 
Reformation ;  but,  till  after  the  Revolution,  they  were  not  mar- 
shalled in  regular   and  permanent  order  of  battle  against  eaeli 

•  Lathbury's  History  of  Convocation,  and  Knight's  History  of  England. 


AGE  27.]  WILLIAM  AND  MARYS  KEIGN.  177 

other,  and  therefore  were  not  known  by  established  names.  Now 
they  began  to  be  called  the  High-Church  party  and  the  Low- 
Church  party.  The  High-Church  party  sympathised  with  James, 
and  were  cool  friends  to  William,  and  thought  that  no  man 
who  was  an  enemy  to  the  ecclesiastical  constitution  of  the  realm 
ought  to  be  permitted  to  bear  any  part  in  the  civil  government. 
The  Low-Church  party  stood  between  the  Nonconformists  and  the 
rigid  Conformists,  and  contained,  as  it  still  contains,  two  different 
elements — a  Puritan  and  a  Latitudinarian  element.  They  saw 
nothing  in  the  existing  polity  and  ceremonial  of  the  Church  of 
England  which  could  make  it  their  duty  to  become  Dissenters ; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  they  held  that  both  the  polity  and  cere- 
monial were  means,  not  ends,  and  that  the  essential  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity might  exist  without  Episcopal  orders,  and  without  a  Book 
of  Common  Prayer.  They  had,  while  James  was  on  the  throne,  been 
mainly  instrumental  in  forming  the  great  Protestant  coalition 
against  Popery  and  tyranny,  and  they  continued,  in  1689,  to  hola 
the  same  conciliatory  language  which  they  had  held  in  1688. 
They  greatly  blamed  the  scruples  of  the  Nonconformists,  but 
thought  the  reflections  thrown  on  them  by  the  High- Church  party 
to  be  grossly  unjust.* 

More  than  one  Methodist  historian  has  said  that  Samuel  Wesley 
was  "  a  rigid  Tory  in  politics,  and  a  High  Churchman  in  religious 
principle  ; "  that  he  "  regarded  Charles  L  as  properly  a  martyr  ;  and 
was  very  much  attached  to  the  interests  of  James."  I  respectfully 
doubt,  to  some  extent,  the  correctness  of  these  assertions. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  not  a  Jacobite,  and,  in  the  first  instance, 
he  was  not  a  Tory.  There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  he  was 
attached  to  the  interests  of  James  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  was 
disgusted  with  James's  tyranny  at  Oxford,  and  was  the  author  of 
the  first  pamphlet  published  in  defence  of  the  Eevolution.  John 
Wesley  says,  his  father  was  a  Tory,  in  the  sense  of  being  "  one 
that  believes  God,  not  the  people,  to  be  the  origin  of  all  civil 
power  ; "  f  but  he  likewise  asserts,  that  his  "  father  always  praised 
God  for  the  happy  revolution  of  1688."  J 

Then  as  it  regards  his  being  a  High  Churchman ; — it  is  true 
that  he  considered  Charles  I.  as  an  injured  sovereign  and  pro- 
perly a  martyr.      He  held  the  same  opinions  as  his  son  John, 

*  Macaulay.  t  Wesley's  WorJcs,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  342. 

t  Gent.  Mag.,  1785,  p.  247. 

M 


178  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l689. 

who  writes,  "  All  agree  that  King  Charles  was  a  pattern  of 
piety,  sobriety,  temperance,  and  chastity.  He  could  not  endure 
an  obscene  or  profane  word.  He  was  punctual  in  his  devotions, 
both  public  and  private.  He  was  rigorously  just ;  but  is  supposed 
to  have  been  sometimes  wanting  in  sincerity.  He  was  a  good 
father,  a  good  master,  and  a  good  husband  ;  yea,  a  fond  one,  which 
was  the  chief  source  of  his  troubles,  together  with  the  wrong  bias 
towards  arbitrary  power  which  had  been  instilled  into -him  from 
his  infancy.  But  for  this,  he  would  have  been  one  of  the  most 
accomplished  princes  that  ever  sat  upon  the  English  throne."* 
But  allowing  that  Samuel  Wesley  held  such  opinions, — what  then  ? 
Is  that  a  proof  that  Samuel  Wesley  was,  "  in  religious  principle, 
a  High  Churchman  ?  "     We  greatly  doubt  it. 

The  High-Church  party  were  most  bitter  opponents  of  Tillotson, 
the  leader  of  the  Low-Church  party ;  whereas,  Samuel  Wesley  was 
his  ardent  admirer,  and  even  excessive  eulogist.  The  High-Church 
party  were  most  vehemently  opposed  to  the  scheme  of  Tillotson 
and  King  William,  for  "  Comprehension,"  or  the  uniting  of  Con- 
formists and  Nonconformists  ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  Low- 
Church  party  desired  its  adoption ;  and,  in  this  respect,  Samuel 
Wesley  agreed  with  them.  He  was  in  favour  of  admitting  the 
Dissenters  within  the  pale  of  the  Established  Church,  and,  there- 
fore, we  infer  that  he  was  in  favour  of  the  modification  of  church 
rites  and  ceremonies,  as  recommended  by  Tillotson  and  his  friends 
in  1689.  The  following  is  an  article  taken  from  the  Athenian 
Oracle,  (vol.  i.  p.  301,)  and  was  probably  written  by  Samuel 
Wesley  himself,  or  at  all  events,  it  was  sanctioned  by  him,  as  one 
of  the  chief  members  of  the  Athenian  Society  : — 

"  A  Comprehension,  or  the  uniting  of  Conformists  and  Noncon- 
formists, is  undoubtedly  necessary  for  the  reforming  of  England. 
1.  Because  the  schism  itself,  on  which  side  soever  the  fault  lies,  is  a 
great  sin  and  scandal,  and  highly  needs  reformation.  That  there 
is  a  schism  is  as  plain  as  that  one  and  one  are  not  one,  but  two ; 
since  there  are  different  churches,  different  communions,  and 
hearers  more  different  and  opposite  than  either.  2.  This  union  is 
further  necessary,  even  to  personal  reformation,  because  the  want 
thereof  has  so  much  obstructed  it ;  persons  being  more  concerned 
for  their  own  particular  tenets  than  for  common  Christianity ; 
nay,  entertaining  the  most  bitter,  scurrilous,  and  profane  scoffs 
*  Wesley's  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.  p.  221. 


AGE  27.]  WILLIAM  AND  MARY'S  REIGN.  179 

against  the  contrary  party,  even  in  their  most  solemn  and  religious 
performances,  with  approbation  and  pleasure.  Thus  while  one 
laughs  at  the  other's  preaching,  and  the  other  at  his  praying,  the 
Atheist  laughs  at  both,  and  there  are  very  many  that  believe 
neither.  3.  Another  reason  is,  because  we  see  not  how  the  ancient 
church  discipline,  so  much  desired,  and  the  loss  thereof  so  much 
lamented,  can  ever  without  this  be  renewed.  As  things  now 
are,  let  a  person  be  excommunicated  in  our  Church,  he  has  the 
Dissenters  to  fly  to ;  in  theirs,  he  flies  to  us,  or  indeed  keeps 
between  both,  rails  at  all,  and  is  of  neither.  4.  Again,  while 
this  fatal  and  scandalous  division  lasts,  it  cannot  be  avoided,  but 
there  will  still  be  different  interests,  and  that  powerful  ones, 
whose  struggle  will  be  not  only  dangerous  to  the  State,  but  breed 
animosities,  strife,  and  bitterness  in  the  different  parties."  * 

Such  were  Samuel  Wesley's  arguments  in  favour  of  the  attempt 
to  bring  Dissenters  within  the  pale  of  the  Church  of  England.  This 
was  not  the  language  of  the  High-Church  party ;  for  that  party 
were  most  stoutly  opposed  to  the  propounded  scheme  altogether. 
Samuel  Wesley  was  no  partisan  of  theirs  ;  and  it  is  a  most  un- 
accountable mistake  for  respectable  viriters  to  suppose  he  was.  If 
he  was  a  party  man  at  all,  he  unquestionably  belonged  to  the 
Tillotson  or  Low-Church  party.  It  is  true,  that  ten  or  twelve 
years  afterwards,  he  was  brought  into  most  painful  collision  with 
his  Dissenting  brethren  ;  but  the  fault  was  not  his  so  much  as  Mr 
Clavel's.  The  controversy  that  then  took  place  was  mournfully 
bitter,  but  it  was  prompted  more  by  politics  than  by  religion ; 
and  though  it  led  to  a  full  and  final  separation  between  him  and 
his  old  Dissenting  friends,  yet  we  are  not  aware  that  there  is  a 
particle  of  evidence  to  show,  that  after  this  he  imbibed  any  of  the 
supercilious  and  superstitious  notions  generally  entertained  by  the 
High-Church  party  of  the  present  day.  He  held  his  ecclesiastical 
and  political  principles  clearly,  conscientiously,  and  firmly  ;  but  he 
was  not  a  bigot ;  and,  if  such  a  confederacy  as  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  had  then  existed,  he  could,  without  a  scruple,  have  be- 
come a  sincere  and  active  member  of  it. 

Before  leaving  the  High  and  the  Low  Church  parties  in  the 
days  of  King  William,  it  may  be  added,  that  though  the  Low- 
Church  clergymen  were  a  minority,  and  not  a  large  minority,  of 

*  The  reader  will  find  another  article,  even  more  explicit,  in  the  Athenian 
Oracle,  voL  iii.  p.  511. 


180  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l689, 

their  profession,  their  weight  was  much  more  than  proportioned 
to  their  numbers.  We  should  probably  overrate  their  numerical 
strength  if  we  were  to  estimate  them  at  a  tenth  part  of  the  priest- 
hood. Yet  it  will  scarcely  be  denied  that  there  were  among  them 
as  many  men  of  distinguished  eloquence  and  learning  as  could  be 
found  in  the  other  nine-tenths  put  together. 

The  head  of  the  Low-Church  party  was  the  king.  He  had  been 
bred  a  Presbyterian  ;  he  was,  from  rational  conviction,  a  Latitu- 
dinarian ;  and  personal  ambition,  as  well  as  higher  motives, 
prompted  him  to  act  as  mediator  among  the  Protestant  sects.  He 
was  bent  on  effecting  three  great  reforms  in  the  laws  touching 
ecclesiastical  matters.  1.  To  obtain  for  Dissenters  permission  to 
celebrate  their  worship  in  freedom  and  security.  2.  To  make 
such  changes  in  the  Anglican  ritual  and  polity,  as,  without  offend- 
ing those  to  whom  that  ritual  and  polity  were  dear,  might  con- 
ciliate the  moderate  Nonconformists.  3.  To  throw  open  civil 
offices  to  Protestants  without  distinction  of  sect.  The  first  of  these 
only  was  attainable.  He  came  too  late  for  the  second,  and  too 
early  for  the  third.* 

While  the  preceding  events  were  happening  in  England,  other 
events  of  great  importance  took  place  in  Scotland.  There  Epis- 
copacy was  abolished,  being  a  great  and  insupportable  grievance 
to  the  nation,  and  contrary  to  the  inclinations  of  the  generality  of 
the  people.  An  act  was  also  passed,  in  1690,  ordaining  that  all 
Presbyterian  ministers  yet  alive,  who  had  been  thrust  from  their 
charges  since  1661,  or  banished  for  not  conforming  to  Prelacy, 
should  forthwith  be  restored  to  their  churches,  their  manses,  and 
their  glebes ;  and,  by  another  act  passed  on  the  7th  of  June,  in 
the  same  year,  parliament  ratified  and  established  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith,  as  the  public  and  avowed  confession  of  the 
Scottish  Church ;  and  restored  the  government  of  the  Church 
by  kirk-sessions,  presbyteries,  provincial  synods,  and  general 
assemblies. 

Such  were  the  opposite  effects  of  the  Eevolution  upon  the  Na- 
tional Church  in  the  two  ends  of  the  island, — in  England  consoli- 
dating and  confirming  the  established  Episcopacy, — in  Scotland 
sweeping  it  utterly  away,  and  in  its  place  re-erecting  the  old  abo- 
lished edifice  of  presbytery  on  broader  and  deeper  foundations 
than  ever. 

*  Macaulay. 


AGE  27.]  WILLIAM  AND  MARY's  EEIGN.  181 

The  position  in  which  the  Eevoliition  placed  the  generality  of 
Protestant  Dissenters  has  been  explained  in  the  account  given  of 
the  Toleration  Act,  which  was  the  only  measure  passed  in  their 
favour.  From  the  benefits  of  this  act  the  Roman  Catholics  and 
the  Socinians  were  excluded  ;  and,  in  1699,  the  former  were  placed 
under  greater  restrictions  than  ever.  It  was  then  enacted  by  par- 
liament,— 1.  That  a  reward  of  a  hundred  pounds  should  be  paid 
to  every  person  who  should  apprehend  any  Popish  bishop,  priest, 
or  Jesuit,  and  prosecute  him  to  conviction,  for  saying  mass,  or 
exercising  any  other  part  of  his  office,  within  these  realms,  2.  That 
the  priest  so  convicted  should  be  adjudged  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment. 3.  That  the  keeping  of  a  school  by  any  Papist  should  be 
punished  by  the  same  penalty.  4.  That  every  person,  educated  in 
the  Popish  religion,  or  professing  the  same,  who,  within  six  months 
after  attaining  the  age  of  eighteen,  should  not  take  the  oaths  of 
allegiance  and  supremacy,  and  also  subscribe  the  declaration  against 
transubstantiation,  the  invocation  of  saints,  and  the  sacrifice  of  the 
mass,  should  be  incapable  of  inheriting,  or  taking  by  descent,  any 
lands,  tenements,  or  hereditaments ;  and  that  the  next  of  kin,  be- 
ino;  a  Protestant,  should  inherit  the  estates  of  which  the  Eoman 
Catholic  was  thus  deprived.  5.  That  all  Papists  should  be  inca- 
pable of  purchasing  any  lands,  either  in  their  own  names  or  in 
those  of  any  other  persons.* 

This  was  a  monstrous  Act  of  Parliament ;  but  when  we  take  into 
consideration  the  sneaking  perfidy,  coarse  brutalities,  and  blood- 
thirsty cruelties  practised  by  Papists  during  late  years  in  Ireland, 
in  Scotland,  and  even  in  England  itself, — when  we  remember  that 
Papists  in  foreign  lands  were  concocting  dark  intrigues  against 
the  British  throne  and  British  nation,  recently  rescued  from  the 
tyranny  of  papal  domination, — and  when  we  remember  further, 
that,  as  lately  as  the  year  1G92,  De  Grandval,  a  captain  of  French 
dragoons,  instigated  by  the  Popish  King  James,  had  entered  into 
a  conspiracy  against  the  life  of  King  William,  and  had  been  shot 
for  his  intended  assassination, — and  that,  in  1696,  there  had  been 
another  more  widely  ramified  Popish  plot  for  the  same  infernal 
purpose,  which  resulted  in  three  of  the  conspirators  being  exe- 
cuted at  Tyburn, — we  are  prepared  to  understand  why  Papists 
were  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  the  Toleration  Act,  and  why 
they  were  made  the  subjects  of  the  legalised  persecution  of  the  act  of 

*  Kuight's  Illdorij  of  England. 


182  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l690. 

1699,  "  for  the  further  preventing  of  the  growth  of  Popery."  Ab* 
stractedly  considered,  the  act  was  monstrous,  and  merits  repro- 
bation ;  but  severe  maladies  sometimes  need  severe  remedies  to 
effect  their  cure. 

Our  space  forbids  any  further  review  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  during 
William  and  Mary's  reign ;  and  we  must  now  content  ourselves  with 
miscellaneous  notices  of  this  eventful  period  in  English  history. 

In  1690  occurred  the  death  of  a  man  whose  name,  despite  his 
almost  insane  eccentricities,  will  always  occupy  a  place  in  English 
Church  annals.  More  than  forty  years  had  elapsed,  says  Mac- 
aulay,  since  George  Fox  had  begun  to  see  visions  and  to  cast  out 
devils.  He  was  then  a  youth  of  pure  morals  and  grave  deport- 
ment, with  a  perverse  temper,  with  the  education  of  a  labouring 
man,  and  with  an  intellect  in  the  most  unhappy  of  all  states ; 
that  is  to  say,  too  much  disordered  for  liberty,  and  not  sufficiently 
disordered  for  bedlam.  At  the  time,  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians, 
Independents,  and  Baptists  were  refuting  and  reviling  each  other; 
He  applied  in  vain  for  spiritual  direction  and  consolation.  One 
jolly  old  clergyman  told  him  to  smoke  tobacco  and  to  sing  psalms  ,• 
another  counselled  him  to  go  and  lose  some  blood.  After  some 
time,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  no  human  being  was  compe- 
tent to  instruct  him  in  divine  things;  and  that  the  truth  had  been 
communicated  to  himself  by  direct  inspiration  from  Heaven.  He 
argued  that,  as  the  confusion  of  languages  began  at  Babel,  and 
that,  as  the  persecutors  of  Christ  put  on  the  cross  an  inscription 
in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  the  knowledge  of  languages,  and 
more  especially  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  must  be  useless  to  a 
Christian  minister.  One  of  the  most  precious  truths  revealed  to 
this  new  apostle  was,  that  it  was  falsehood  and  adulation  to  use 
the  second  person  plural  instead  of  the  second  person  singular. 
To  say  good  morning  or  good  evening  was  highly  reprehensible^ 
for  the  phrases  evidently  imported  that  God  had  made  bad  morn- 
ings and  bad  evenings.  To  talk  of  the  month  of  March  was  to 
worship  Mars ;  and  to  talk  of  Monday  was  to  pay  idolatrous 
homao-e  to  the  moon.  A  Christian  was  bound  to  face  death  itself 
rather  than  touch  his  hat  to  the  greatest  of  mankind.  Bowing 
was  considered  as  the  effect  of  Satanical  influence,  for  the  woman 
in  the  gospel,  while  she  had  a  spirit  of  infirmity,  was  bowed  to- 
gether, and  ceased  to  bow  as  soon  as  divine  power  had  liberated 
her  from  the  tyranny  of  the  evil  one. 


AGE  28.]  WILLIAM  AND  MARY'S  REIGN.  183 

Pox  long  wandered  from  place  to  place,  teaching  this  strange 
theology,  shaking  like  an  aspen  leaf  in  his  paroxysms  of  fanatical 
excitement,  forcing  his  way  into  churches  which  he  nicknamed 
steeple-houses,  interrupting  prayers  and  sermons  with  clamour 
and  scurrility,  and  pestering  rectors  and  justices  with  epistles 
much  resembling  burlesques  of  those  sublime  odes  in  which  the 
Hebrew  prophets  foretold  the  calamities  of  Babylon  and  Tyre. 
He  soon  acquired  great  notoriety  by  these  religious  feats.  His 
strange  face,  his  nasal  chant,  his  immovable  hat,  and  his  leather 
breeches,  were  known  all  over  the  country.  He  was  repeatedly 
imprisoned  and  set  in  the  stocks,  sometimes  justly,  for  disturb- 
ing the  public  worship  of  congregations ;  sometimes  unjustly,  for 
merely  talking  nonsense.  He  soon  gathered  round  him  a  body  of 
disciples,  some  of  whom  went  beyond  himself  in  absurdity.  He 
also  made  some  converts,  as  Barclay  and  Penn,  to  whom  he  was 
immeasurably  inferior  in  everything,  except  the  energy  of  his  con- 
victions. By  these  converts  his  rude  doctrines  were  polished  into 
a  form  somewhat  less  shocking  to  good  sense  and  good  taste.  His 
,  gibberish  was  translated  into  English ;  and  his  system  so  much 
improved  that  he  himself  might  have  been  excused  if  he  had 
hardly  known  it.  To  the  last  his  disciples  professed  profound 
reverence  for  him  ;  and  his  crazy  epistles  were  received  and  read 
in  Quaker  meetings  all  over  the  country.  This  founder  of  the 
Quaker  sect  died  in  1690.* 

As  already  intimated  in  a  previous  chapter,  Samuel  Wesley, 
like  Macaulay,  had  no  great  liking  for  the  Quakers.  The  follow- 
ing article,  taken  from  the  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  i.  p.  331,  in 
which  the  Quakers  and  Papists  are  compared,  will  tend  to  show 
his  opinions  concerning  a  sect  which  were  much  more  numerous 
about  two  hundred  years  ago  than  they  are  at  present,  and  whose 
views  and  vagaries  then  were  much  more  wild  than  happily  they 
are  now  :— 

"  Both  Quakers  and  Papists  are  so  bad  that  they  can  hardly 
be  called  Christian.  In  many  things  they  are  near  akin.  The 
Quakers,  ever  since  their  rise,  have  been  looked  upon  as  the 
Jesuit  by-blows.  The  Quakers  deny  the  plenary  satisfaction  of 
Christ,  and  rest  on  their  own  merits ;  so  do  the  Papists.  They 
rail  at  our  ministers,  and  deny  their  legal  call  or  ordination ;  so 
do  the  Papists.     They  pretend  to  a  greater  strictness  and  singu- 

*  Macaulay. 


184  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l694. 

larity  of  life  than  other  people ;  so  do  several  orders  among  the 
Papists.  Then,  for  fanaticism  and  enthusiasm,  they  are  most 
admirably  matched.  But,  to  consider  them  asunder — The  Papist 
holds  more  than  he  ought  to  do,  and  therefore  all  the  articles  of 
the  Christian  faith  :  but  the  Quaker  much  less,  for  the  Quakers  all 
deny  the  Christian  sacraments,  and  we  wonder  how  they  have  a 
face  to  pretend  to  what  they  never  had,  Christianity,  when  they 
were  never  christened.  They  are  indeed  a  compendium  of  almost 
all  sorts  of  heresies  :  for  they  not  only  deny  the  merits  of  Christ, 
with  the  Papists,  but  even  His  satisfaction  and  divinity,  being  at 
best  no  better  than  mere  Arians.  Nay,  there  have  been  some  of 
them  who,  as  far  as  we  can  understand  them,  deny  our  Saviour's 
manhood,  and  turn  angels,  spirits,  heaven,  and  hell  into  mean  and 
jejune  allegories.  All  of  them,  to  a  man,  whom  we  ever  met  with, 
deny  the  Scriptures  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  and  most  of  them 
deny  any  resurrection  of  the  body.  For  these  reasons,  we  think, 
as  a  bad  Christian  is  better  than  none,  so  a  Papist  is  better  than  a 
Quaker.  "* 

This  may  seem  a  caricatured  description  of  the  Quakers'  religion, 
but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  1690  that  religion  was  not 
the  systematised  and  inofiFensive  thing  that  it  is  in  1865. 

Of  all  the  members  of  the  Low-Church  party,  in  the  reign  of 
William  and  JNlary,  Tillotson  stood  the  highest  in  general  estima- 
tion. He  was  the  son  of  a  clothier,  and  was  born  at  Sowerby 
Bridge,  in  Yorkshire,  in  1630.  His  first  sermon  was  preached  at 
the  morning  exercise  in  Cripplegate,  in  1661.  Thirty  years  after- 
wards he  was  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  the 
Church  of  St  Mary  le  Bow.  The  congregation  was  the  most 
splendid  that  had  been  seen  in  any  place  of  worship  since  William 
and  Mary's  coronation.  The  crowds  that  lined  the  streets  greeted 
the  new  primate  with  loud  applauses ;  but  the  applauses  of  his 
friends  could  not  drown  the  roar  of  execration  which  the  Jacobites 
and  High-Church  party  set  up  against  him.  According  to  them, 
he  was  a  thief,  who  had  entered  not  by  the  door,  but  had  climbed 

*  In  the  fourth  volume  of  the  Athenian  Oracle  Wesley  vindicates  his  charges 
against  the  Quakers  by  quotations  from  their  writings,  and  sums  up  the  matter 
thus  : — "  Quakerism  is  a  compendium  of  all  heresies,  some  of  which  we  shall 
name — Pharisees,  Sadducees,  Ebionites,  Gnostics,  Eucratites,  Marcionites,  Cain- 
ites,  Manichees,  Jacobites,  Acephalae,  Tritheites,  Adamites,  Helcecaites,  Marco- 
citee,  Colorbalites,  Sabellians,  Samosatenians,  Macedonians,  Arians,  Donatists, 
Priscillians — cum  multis  aliis,"  (p.  366.) 


AGE  28.]  WILLIAM  AND  MARY'S  REIGN.  185 

over  the  fences.  He  was  an  Arian,  a  Socinian,  a  Deist,  an  Atheist. 
He  had  never  been  christened,  for  his  parents  were  Anabaptists. 
He  had  lost  their  religion  when  a  boy,  and  he  had  never  found 
another.  In  ribald  lampoons  he  was  nicknamed  "  Undipped 
John,"  The  parish  register  of  his  baptism  was  produced  in  vain. 
This  storm  of  obloquy,  which  he  had  to  face  for  the  first  time  at 
more  than  sixty  years  of  age,  was  too  much  for  him.  His  spirits 
declined,  his  health  gave  way,  and  in  1695  he  died,  and  Samuel 
Wesley,  his  sincere  and  warm  admirer,  wrote  and  published  his 
elegy. 

Tillotson  was  sincere,  frank,  and  humble  ;  of  kind  and  tender 
affection,  bountiful  in  his  charities,  and  forgiving  of  injuries. 
After  his  death,  there  was  found  a  bundle  of  bitter  libels  which 
had  been  published  against  him,  on  which  he  had  written  with 
his  own  hand,  "  I  forgive  the  authors  of  these  books,  and  I  pray 
God  that  He  also  may  forgive  them."  His  public  principles  were 
philanthropic,  tolerant,  and  liberal.  William  and  Mary  reposed 
an  entire  confidence  in  his  prudence,  moderation,  and  integrity. 
In  some  points  he  was,  perhaps,  too  compliant,  and  was  led  into 
some  inconsistencies  ;  but  the  times  were  difficult,  and  his  inten- 
tions were  always  good.  While  he  was  in  a  private  station  of  life, 
he  always  laid  aside  two-tenths  of  his  income  for  charitable  uses  ; 
and  when  he  died,  his  debts  could  not  have  been  paid  if  the  king 
had  not  remitted  his  first  fruits.  As  a  preacher,  he  was  thought, 
by  his  contemporaries,  to  have  surpassed  all  rivals,  living  or  dead. 
Posterity  has  reversed  this  judgment.  Yet  Tillotson  still  keeps 
his  place  as  a  legitimate  English  classic.  His  highest  flights  were 
indeed  far  below  those  of  Taylor,  of  Barrow,  and  of  South ;  but 
his  oratory  was  more  correct  and  equable  than  theirs.  No  quaint 
conceits,  no  pedantic  quotations  from  Talmudists  and  Scoliasts, 
no  mean  images,  buffoon  stories,  or  scurrilous  invectives,  ever 
marred  the  effect  of  his  grave  and  temperate  discourses.  His 
style  is  not  brilliant,  but  it  is  pure  and  transparently  clear.  He 
is  always  serious,  and  always  good.  His  sermons  were  published 
in  three  volumes  folio,  Addison  considered  them  as  a  standard 
of  the  purity  of  the  English  language  ;  and  Dryden  acknowledged 
that,  if  he  had  any  talent  for  English  prose,  it  was  derived  from 
frequent  perusal  of  Tillotson's  writings. 

In  1694,  on  December  28,  Queen  Mary  died,  and  Samuel 
Wesley  composed  and  published  a  poem  eulogising  her  character. 


186  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l694. 

Being  seized  with  smalliDox,  Mary  gave  orders  that  every  lady  of 
the  bed-chamber,  every  maid  of  honour,  nay,  every  menial  ser- 
vant, who  had  not  had  the  smalljDOx,  should  instantly  leave  the 
house.  She  locked  herself  up  during  a  short  time  in  her  closet, 
burned  some  papers,  and  arranged  others,  and  then  calmly  awaited 
her  decease.  William  remained  night  and  day  by  her  bedside  ; 
and  a  few  moments  before  she  expired  he  was  removed,  almost 
insensible,  from  the  sick-chamber.  The  public  sorrow  at  her 
death  was  great  and  general.  When  the  Commons  next  met 
they  sat  for  a  time  in  profound  silence.  The  number  of  sad  faces 
in  the  street  struck  every  observer.  On  the  Sunday  which  fol- 
lowed her  death,  her  virtues  were  celebrated  in  almost  every 
parish  church  of  the  capital,  and  in  almost  every  great  meeting- 
house of  the  Nonconformists.  The  funeral  was  the  saddest  and 
most  august  that  Westminster  had  ever  seen.  The  two  Houses, 
with  their  maces,  followed  the  hearse  ;  the  Lords,  robed  in  scarlet 
and  ermine  ;  the  Commons  in  long  black  mantles.  No  preceding 
sovereign  had  ever  been  attended  to  the  grave  by  a  parliament  ; 
for,  till  then,  the  parliament  had  always  expired  with  the  sove- 
reign. The  whole  magistracy  of  the  city  swelled  the  procession. 
The  banners  of  England  and  France,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  were 
carried  by  great  nobles  before  the  corpse.  The  pall  was  borne 
by  the  chiefs  of  the  illustrious  houses  of  Howard,  Seymour,  Grey, 
and  Stanley.  On  the  gorgeous  coffin  of  purple  and  gold  were 
laid  the  crown  and  sceptre  of  the  realm.  The  day  was  well 
suited  to  such  a  ceremony.  The  sky  was  dark  and  troubled. 
The  nave,  choir,  and  transept  of  the  abbey  were  in  a  blaze  with 
with  innumerable  wax-lights.  The  body  was  deposited  under  a 
sumptuous  canopy  in  the  centre  of  the  church,  while  the  primate 
preached  ;  and  throughout  the  whole  ceremony  the  distant  boom- 
ing of  cannon  was  heard  every  minute  from  the  batteries  of  the 
Tower.* 

As  long  as  Queen  Mary  lived,  William  left  the  management  of 
the  affairs  of  the  English  Church  wholly  in  her  hands,  and  her 
chief  confidant  and  counsellor  was  Archbishop  Tillotson. 

Whatever  was  Mary's  character  and  conduct  as  a  daughter  and 
a  sister,  she  was  certainly  the  most  devoted  and  exemplary  of 
royal  wives.  Though,  in  accordance  with  the  atrocious  practice 
of  sovereigns,  her  husband  kept  a  mistress  in  the  palace,  yet 

*  Macaulay. 


AGE  32.]  WILLIAM  AND  MAEY'S  KEIGN.  187 

she  had  the  good  sense  to  submit  to  his  commanding  intellect. 
John  Wesley  says,  she  "  was  in  her  person  tall  and  well-propor- 
tioned, with  an  oval  visage,  lively  eyes,  agreeable  features,  a  mild 
aspect,  and  an  air  of  dignity.  Her  apprehension  was  clear,  her 
memory  tenacious,  and  her  judgment  solid.  She  was  a  zealous 
Protestant,  scrupulously  exact  in  all  the  duties  of  devotion,  of  an 
even  temper,  and  of  a  calm  and  mild  conversation."  She  was 
excellently  qualified  to  be  the  head  of  the  English  court.  She 
was  English  by  birth,  and  English  also  in  her  tastes  and  feelings. 
Her  face  was  handsome,  her  port  majestic,  her  temper  sweet  and 
lively,  her  manners  affable  and  graceful.  Her  understanding, 
though  very  imperfectly  cultivated,  was  quick.  Feminine  wit 
sparkled  in  her  conversation ;  and  her  letters  were  so  well  ex- 
pressed that  they  deserved  to  be  well  spelt.  She  took  much 
pleasure  in  the  lighter  kinds  of  literature,  and  did  something  to- 
wards bringing  books  into  fashion  among  ladies  of  quality.  The 
stainless  purity  of  her  private  life,  and  the  strict  attention  which 
she  paid  to  her  religious  duties,  were  the  more  respectable,  be- 
cause she  was  singularly  free  from  censoriousness,  and  discouraged 
scandal  as  much  as  vice.  Her  charities  were  munificent  and  judi- 
cious, and  though  she  made  no  ostentatious  display  of  them,  it 
was  known  that  she  retrenched  from  her  own  state  in  order  to 
relieve  Protestants  whom  persecution  had  driven  from  France  and 
Ireland,  and  who  were  starving  in  the  garrets  of  London.* 

The  reign  of  William,  her  husband,  extended  to  the  year  1702. 
During  the  thirteen  years  that  William  wore  the  crown,  the  Bank 
of  England  was  founded  ;  the  East  India  Company  was  reor- 
ganised ;  and  the  plantations  or  settlements  of  America  and  the 
West  Indies  so  steadily  increased,  that,  before  his  death,  they  em- 
ployed not  less  than  five  hundred  sail  of  ships.  Sir  Godfrey 
Kneller  and  Sir  Peter  Lely  were  the  chief  portrait-painters  of  the 
day ;  Purcell  was  the  chief  musician  ;  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was 
shedding  a  glory  over  his  age  and  country  by  his  sublime  scientific 
discoveries.  The  higher  kinds  of  literature  were  at  a  discount  for 
want  of  court  patronage.  Dryden,  fallen  on  what  to  him  were 
evil  days  and  evil  tongues,  and  forced  in  his  old  age  to  write  for 
bread,  with  less  rest  for  his  wearied  head  and  hand  than  they  had 
ever  had  before,  now  produced  some  of  his  most  laborious  and 
also  some  of  his  happiest  works  ;  and  Lee,  the  dramatic  poet,  dis- 

■"■  Macaulay. 


188  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l702. 

charo-ed  from  Bedlam,  finished  two  more  tragedies  ;  but  besides 
these,  there  were  hardly  any  poets  above  the  rank  of  Shadwell, 
Tate,  and  Brady.  Among  other  writers  belonging  to  the  same 
period  may  be  mentioned  : — Bishop  Stillingfleet,  who  had  been 
known  as  an  author  thirty  years  before  William's  accession  to 
the  throne  ;  Cumberland,  Bishop  of  Peterborough,  an  exceedingly 
learned  writer,  who,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four,  began  to  study,  and 
mastered  the  Coptic  language,  was  now  in  the  full  zenith  of  his 
fame  ;  Bishop  Bull  was  writing  his  "  Judicium  Ecclesise  Catho- 
lics," for  which  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  whole  body  of  the 
clergy  in  France  ;  good  old  Eichard  Baxter,  who  had  been  filling 
the  world  with  books  for  half  a  century,  just  lived  to  see  the  Re- 
volution, and  died  in  1691  ;  Dr  Gilbert  Burnet,  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, was  plying  his  prolific  pen,  which,  during  his  lifetime,  pro- 
duced one  hundred  and  forty-five  distinct  publications  ;  Robert 
South,  immortalised  by  his  masculine,  if  not  spiritual  sermons, 
was  carrying  on  a  controversy  with  Sherlock  respecting  the  Tri- 
nity ;  and  John  Locke  \\  as  publishing  his  "  Essay  Concerning  the 
Human  Understanding." 

The  population  of  England,  in  the  reign  of  King  William, 
was  about  seven  millions.  About  ten  thousand  of  these  were 
clergymen,  with  an  avei"age  income  of  £60  each  per  annum. 
The  average  wages  of  labouring  people  and  out-door  servants 
were  five  shillings  and  ninepence  farthing  per  week  ;  and  the 
average  income  of  cottagers  and  paupers  fourpence  farthing  per 
day.*  Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  Samuel  Wesley  was 
flourishing  among  his  two  hundred  peasant  parishioners  at  Soutli 
Ormsby,  on  £50  a  year  and  a  parsonage, — an  income  nearly  equal 
to  the  average  income  of  the  ten  thousand  clergy  living  at  that 
period. 

King  William  died  on  the  8th  of  March  1702.  Samuel  Wes- 
ley's son  John  says — "  Upon  the  whole,  William  III.  appears  to 
have  been  an  honest,  conscientious  man,  fearing  God,  and  desirous 
to  please  Him.  His  good  qualities  were  many,  his  ill  ones  few  ; 
so  that  we  may  well  rank  him  among  the  best  of  the  English 
princes."  "f 

At  eighteen  William  sat   among  the  fathers  of  the  Common- 

*  Knight's  History  of  England. 

f  Wesley's  History  of  England,  vol.  iv.,  p.  41. — Dr  Adam  Clarke  says  that  Samuel 
Wesley  was  one  of  King  William's  chaplains,  but  on  what  authority  I  know  not. 


AGE  40.]  WILLIAM  AND  MAKY's  EEIGN.  189 

wealth,  grave,  discreet,  and  judicious  as  the  oldest  among  them. 
At  twenty-one  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  administration. 
At  twenty-three  he  was  renowned  throughout  Europe  as  a  soldier 
and  politician.  His  personal  tastes  were  tliose  of  a  warrior  rather 
than  of  a  statesman  ;  but  he  occupies  a  far  higher  place  among 
statesmen  than  among  warriors.  From  a  child  he  had  been  weak 
and  sickly.  In  the  prime  of  manhood  his  complaints  had  been 
aggravated  by  a  severe  attack  of  smallpox.  He  was  asthmatic 
and  consumptive.  His  slender  frame  was  shaken  by  a  constant 
hoarse  cough.  He  could  not  sleep  unless  his  head  was  propped 
by  several  pillows,  and  could  scarcely  draw  his  breath  in  any  but 
the  purest  air.  Cruel  headaches  frequently  tortured  him.  Exer- 
tion soon  fatigued  him.  Yet,  through  a  life,  which  was  one  of 
long  disease,  the  force  of  his  mind  never  failed,  on  any  great  oc- 
casion, to  bear  up  his  suffering  and  languid  body. 

His  frame  was  slender  and  feeble ;  his  forehead  lofty  and 
ample ;  his  nose  curved  like  the  beak  of  an  eagle ;  his  eye  bright 
and  keen ;  his  brow  thoughtful  and  somewhat  sullen ;  his  mouth 
firm  and  somewhat  peevish ;  and  his  cheek  pale,  thin,  and  deeply 
furrowed  by  sickness  and  by  care.  He  possessed  strong  natural 
sense  and  rare  force  of  will.  Long  before  he  reached  manhood, 
he  knew  how  to  keep  secrets.  Meanwhile,  however,  he  made  but 
little  proficiency  in  fashionable  or  literary  accomplishments.  His 
manners  were  altogether  Dutch,  and  even  his  countrymen  thought 
him  blunt.  To  foreigners,  he  often  seemed  churlish.  He  was 
entirely  destitute  of  sociability.  He  seldom  came  forth  from  his 
closet ;  and  when  he  appeared  in  the  public  rooms,  he  stood  among 
the  crowd  of  courtiers  and  ladies  stern  and  abstracted,  making  no 
jest  and  smiling  at  none.  His  freezing  look,  his  taciturnity,  the 
dry  and  concise  answers  which  he  uttered  when  he  could  keep 
silence  no  longer,  disgusted  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  Avho  had 
been  accustomed  to  be  slapped  on  the  back  by  their  royal  masters, 
called  Jack  or  Harry,  congratulated  about  race  cups,  or  rallied 
about  actresses.  The  women  also  missed  the  homage  due  to  their 
sex.  They  observed  that  the  king  spoke  in  a  somewhat  imperious 
tone  even  to  the  wife  to  whom  he  owed  so  much,  and  whom  he 
sincerely  loved.  Another  thing,  which  was  regarded  as  one  of 
his  misfortunes,  was  his  bad  English.  He  spoke  our  language, 
but  not  well.  His  accent  was  foreign,  his  diction  was  inele- 
gant, and  his  vocabulary  seems  to  have  been  no  larger  than  was 


1  90  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l702. 

necessary  for  the  transaction  of  business.  English  literature  he 
was  incapable  of  enjoying  or  of  understanding.  He  never  once, 
during  his  whole  reign,  showed  himself  at  the  theatre.  Next  to 
hunting,  his  favourite  amusements  were  'architecture  and  garden- 
ing.  He  had  some  talent  for  sarcasm,  and  frequently  employed 
a  natural  rhetoric,  quaint  indeed,  but  vigorous,  and  original. 
From  a  child,  he  listened  with  interest  when  questions  of  alliance, 
finance,  and  war  were  discussed.  He  understood  Latin,  Italian, 
and  Spanish  ;  and  spoke  and  wrote,  with  more  or  less  correctness, 
English,  French,  and  German.  The  Dutch  was  his  own  tongue. 
For  all  persecution  he  felt  a  fixed  aversion.  His  theological 
opinions  were  loose,  but  were  more  decided  than  those  of  his 
ancestors;  and  predestination  was  the  keystone  of  his  religion. 
Since  Octavius,  the  world  had  seen  no  such  instance  of  precocious 
statesmanship.     He  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-two. 

[This  chapter  is  compiled  from  the  Histories  of  "Wesley,  of  Knight,  and  of 
Macaulay,  Calamy's  Life  and  Times,  and  other  works  of  a  kindred  character.] 


CHAPTER  X. 

LAST  DAYS  AT  SOUTH  OKMSBY — 1694-1696. 

We  must  return  for  a  little  while  to  South  Ormsby,  suiall,  but 
neat  and  picturesque,  and  the  first  home  of  Samuel  and  Susannah 
Wesley.  Here  they  lived  about  five  years.  Here  the  rector's  wife 
brought  him  one  child  additional  every  year,  and  did  her  best  to 
make  £50  per  annum  go  as  far  as  possible.  Here  he  plied  his 
pen  with  unceasing  diligence,  and  wrote  many  of  his  articles  for 
the  Athenian  Gazette,  and  also  his  contributions  to  the  "  Young 
Student's  Library,"  and  "  The  Complete  Library,  or  News  for  the 
Ingenious;"  here  he  finished  his  "  Life  of  Christ,"  and  here  he 
composed  two  other  poems,  which  must  now  be  noticed. 

Queen  Mary  died  at  the  end  of  the  year  1694  ;  and  her  confiden- 
tial friend  and  adviser,  Dr  Tillotson,  died  two  months  afterwards. 
In  1695,  Samuel  Wesley  published,  in  a  sort  of  folio  pamphlet  of 
twenty-nine  pages,  his  "  Elegies  on  the  Queen  and  Archbishop." 
The  title  of  the  first  is  as  follows : — "  On  the  Death  of  her  late 
sacred  Majesty,  Mary,  Queen  of  England,  a  Pindarique  Poem." 
The  title  of  the  second  is — "A  Poem  on  the  Death  of  his  Grace, 
John,  late  Archbishop  of  Canterbury."  The  Elegy  on  the  Queen 
consists  of  twenty-five  verses  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  lines  each ; 
and  that  on  the  archbishop  of  sixty-two  verses  of  four  lines  to  a 
verse. 

Both  the  poems  are  written  in  the  highest  style  of  eulogy.  The 
following  are  the  first  lines  of  the  Elegy  on  the  Queen.  The 
death  of  Mary  is  represented  as  a  judgment  inflicted  on  account 
of  the  sins  of  the  nation,  and  is  also  considered  as  the  harbinger 
of  other  judgments  to  follow.  The  reference  to  the  Shechinah  is 
in  bad  taste,  and  almost  profane  : — 

"  Ah,  sinful  nation  !  Ah,  ungrateful  Isle !  ^ 

See  what  thy  crimes  at  last  have  done  ! 
At  last  thy  Shechinah  is  gone ; 
Thy  beauteous  sun  no  more  must  on  thee  smile, 


192  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l695. 

Thy  dove  is  shelter'd  in  the  ark ; 

The  heavens  are  silent  all  and  dark, 
Dark  as  thy  fate, — or  where, 
Through  horrid  rifts,  some  streaks  of  light  appear, 

They  bode  a  dreadful  flood 

Of  fire  and  blood." 

The  following  is  from  the  twenty-fifth  stanza,  and  is  meant  to 
be  descriptive  of  Mary's  admission  into  heaven.  The  extract  is 
inserted  with  reluctance ;  but,  in  delineating  character,  faults  as 
well  as  virtues  must  be  noted  : — 

"  How  was  heaven  moved  at  her  arrival  there  ! 

With  how  much  more  than  usual  art  and  care, 
The  angels,  who  so  oft  to  earth  had  gone. 
And  borne  her  incense  to  the  Eternal's  throne, 

For  her  new  coronation  now  prepare  ! 
How  welcome  !  how  caressed  ! 
Among  the  blest ! 

And  first  mankind's  great  mother  rose — 
'  Give  way,  ye  crowding  souls  ! '  said  she, 
'  That  I  the  second  of  my  race  may  see  ! '  " 

Notwithstanding  our  high  veneration  for  Samuel  Wesley,  we 
feel  bound  to  say  that  such  lines  are  fulsome  foolishness.  Upon 
the  whole,  Mary  was  a  good  woman,  but  Wesley's  eulogy  of  her 
is  sadly  excessive  : — 

"  Would  virtue  take  a  shape,  she  'd  choose  to  appear, 
And  think,  and  speak,  and  dress,  and  live  like  her. 
Zeal  without  heat,  devotion  without  pride. 
Work  without  noise,  did  all  her  hours  divide ; 
Wit  without  trifling,  prudence  without  guile, 
Pure  faith,  which  no  false  reasoning  e'er  could  spoil, 
With  her,  secured  and  blest  our  happy  Isle." 

The  poem  on  Tillotson  is  written  in  the  same  eulogistic  strain. 
The  primate  is  represented  as  one  who  excelled  in  pulpit,  church, 
and  state.  As  a  preacher,  he  taught  without  noise,  and  differed 
from  others  without  strife.  As  a  prelate,  he  was  watchful,  hum- 
ble, wise.     As  a  statesman,  unambitious  and  ujjright : — 

"  'Twas  music,  poetry,  and  rapture  all. 

The  sweets  of  his  orac'lous  words  to  share  ; 
As  soft  they  fell,  as  balmy  dewdrops  fall. 

As  smooth  as  undisturbed  ethereal  air. 
One  word  you  cannot  take  away  ; 

Complete  as  Virgil's,  his  majestic  sense ; 
To  twenty  ages  of  the  world,  shall  stay. 

The  standard  he  of  English  eloquence." 

Dr  Adam  Clarke  properly  observes,  that  "  great  and  good  as 


AGE  33.]  LAST  DAYS  AT  SOUTH  OEMSBY.  193 

both  the  queen  and  archbishop  were,  both  their  characters  are 
sadly  overdrawn,  and  their  praises  are  extended  even  beyond  poetic 
licence.  These,  and  some  other  of  Mr  Wesley's  early  productions 
excited  the  ridicule  of  the  wits,  and  made  him  the  subject  of  such 
an  occasional  squib  as  the  following,  written  by  John  Dunton : — 

"  Poor  harmless  Wesley,  let  him  write  again  ; 
Be  pitied  in  his  old  heroic  strain ; 
Let  him  in  reams  proclaim  himself  a  dunce, 
And  break  a  dozen  stationers  at  once." 

Mr  Wesley,  as  we  have  seen,  was  an  enthusiastic,  an  almost 
idolatrous,  admirer  of  Queen  Mary  and  of  Archbishop  Tillotson  ; 
and  some  writers  have  been  pleased  to  intimate  that  this  arose 
from  special  favours  which  her  Majesty  and  the  archbishop  had 
shown  him.  This  is  an  unwarranted  and  unworthy  insinuation. 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  Wesley  received  kindness  from  the  queen  ; 
but  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  he  was  indebted  to  Tillotson 
for  any  favour  whatever.  Wesley  himself  declares,  in  a  letter  to 
be  given  hereafter,  that  because  he  dedicated  his  "  Life  of  Christ " 
to  Queen  Mary,  the  queen  gave  him  the  Epworth  living.  He 
never  asked  for  it.  "  It  was  proffered  and  given  without  his  ever 
having  solicited  any  person,  and  without  his  ever  expecting,  or 
even  once  thinking  of  such  a  favour."  He  adds,  "The  favours 
which  our  blessed  queen  was  pleased  to  bestow  on  me,  after  she 
had  read  my  book,  were  as  far  beyond  my  expectation  as  my 
desert."  * 

There  is  no  doubt  that  all  this  is  substantially  correct ;  though 
it  involves  a  discrepancy  in  dates,  which  it  is  hard  to  reconcile. 
Wesley  says  that  it  was  through  the  queen  that  he  obtained  Ep- 
worth living ;  and  yet  he  was  not  inducted  into  that  living  until 
two  years  after  the  queen  was  dead.  The  probability  is  that  the 
queen  made  some  arrangement  that  Wesley  should  be  the  next 
presentee  to  Epworth  benefice  ;  and,  after  her  decease,  the  arrange- 
ment was  carried  out.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  an  unquestioned 
fact,  that  Wesley  was  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Queen  Mary ; 
but  it  is  an  unwarrantable  imputation  to  say  that  it  was  because 
of  this  that  he  used  such  excessive  flattery  in  Queen  Mary's  Elegy. 
We  find  the  same  extravagant  praises  used  concerning  her  in  the 
very  book  which  led  to  the  Epworth  living  being  given  ;  thereby 
showing  that  Wesley  was  a  most  warm  admirer  of  the  queen 

*  Wesley's  Ariswer  to  Palmer. 


194  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l695. 

before  he  received  any  of  her  royal  kindnesses.     After  having 
lauded  the  virgin  mother  of  our  Saviour,  he  adds  : — 

"  And  after  thee,  oh  full  of  charms  and  grace  ! 
Let  our  great  Mary  fill  the  second  place  ! 
For  other  queens  long  mayst  thou  look  in  vain, 
Others  like  her,  to  fill  thy  glorious  train. 
Humble  like  thee,  like  thee  of  royal  line. 
Her  sovdto  Heaven  submiss,  and  bow'd  like  thine  ! 
Heaven,  which  immaculate  her  form  design' d, 
As  a  fit  mansion  for  so  fair  a  mind. 
Which  gave  her  eyes,  that  love  and  awe  inspire, 
And  cheer  the  world  like  the  sun's  vital  fire.  ^ 

Oh  may  they  on  my  humble  labours  shine. 
With  their  kind  influence  gild  each  happy  line  ! 
Endue  with  purer  forms  the  coarser  ore. 
And  stamp  it  bullion,  though  'twas  dross  before."  * 

In  this  way  we  dispose  of  the  imputation,  that  Wesley's  extra- 
vagant eulogies  of  Queen  Mary  would  not  have  been  written  if 
Queen  Mary  had  not  shown  him  favour.  The  thing  is  false, 
for  he  wrote  such  eulogies  before  any  favour  had  been  granted. 
His  eulogies  may  be  foolish,  but  they  are  not  fawning.  He  loved 
his  queen,  and  therefore  praised  her. 

As  it  respects  the  archbishop,  there  is  not  a  scrap  of  evidence 
to  show  that  Wesley  was  ever  indebted  to  him  for  kindness  of  any 
kind ;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  through  Tillotson  that  Wesley  was 
not  made  an  Irish  bishop.  Hence  the  following  extract  from  a 
letter  written  by  his  Grace  only  four  months  before  Mary's  death. 
The  letter  was  addressed  to  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  and  is  dated 
"  Lambeth  House,  August  31,  1694."     The  primate  says  : — 

"  My  Lord  Marquis  of  Normanby  having  made  Mr  Waseleyf 
his  chaplain,  sent  Colonel  Fitzgerald  to  propose  him  for  a  bishopric 
in  Ireland,  wherewith  I  acquainted  her  Majesty ;  who,  according 
to  her  true  judgment,  did  by  no  means  think  fit.  Their  Majes- 
ties, have  made  Dr  Foley  Bishop  of  Down,  and  Dean  Pulleyn 
Bishop  of  Cloyne."! 

And  so,  in  all  likelihood,  Dr  Foley  or  Dean  Pulleyn  obtained  the 
bishopric  which  the  Marquis  of  Normanby  wished  to  obtain  for 
Samuel  Wesley.  We  know  nothing  of  the  history  and  merits  of 
these  gentlemen.     Perhaps  they  were  well  qualified  for  the  !Epis- 

*  Wesley's  Life  of  Christ. 

f  Thus  the  name  is  spelt  in  the  letter;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Wesley 
is  meant.  J  Birche's  Life  of  Tillotson. 


AGE  33.]  LAST  DAYS  AT  SOUTH  OKMSBY.  195 

copal  station  to  which  they  were  exalted,  or  perhaps  they  were 
not ;  for  bishoprics  have  not  always  been  given  to  men  the  best 
qualified  and  the  most  deserving.  It  is  not  improbable  that,  in 
learning  and  talent,  Samuel  Wesley  was  vastly  superior  to  Dr 
Foley  and  Dean  Pulleyne ;  but  we  cannot,  on  this  ground,  com- 
mend the  wisdom  of  the  application  made  by  the  Marquis  of 
Normanby,  or  argue  that  at  present  Samuel  Wesley  was  fit  to  be 
made  a  bishop.  Wesley  was  only  thirty-two  years  of  age  ;  it  was 
not  more  than  six  years  since  he  had  been  ordained  ;  and  his 
ministry,  during  that  period,  had  been,  to  a  great  extent,  confined 
to  a  small  parish  of  not  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  inhabi- 
tants. He  had  neither  age  nor  experience  sufficient  for  the  Epis- 
copal office.  Normanby 's  application  was  hasty  and  imprudent ; 
and  the  disapproval  of  the  archbishop  and  the  queen  was  seemly 
and  right.  At  the  same  time,  the  letter  of  the  archbishop  above 
quoted,  is  written  in  terms  so  frigid  as  to  lead  to  the  conclusion 
that,  however  much  Samuel  Wesley  admired  the  archbishop,  the 
feeling  was  not  reciprocal,  and  was  of  no  advantage  to  the  poor 
rector  who  cherished  it. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  Marquis  of  Normanby  was  one 
of  Wesley's  warm-hearted  friends.  It  was  through  this  nobleman 
that  he  obtained  the  living  of  South  Ormsby.*  His  lordship  had 
a  house  in  the  parish,  and  Wesley  acted  as  his  chaplain.  The 
Marquis  was  well  acquainted  with  the  poor,  hard-working,  lite- 
rary parson,  and  was  well  able  to  estimate  his  character  and  his 
merits. 

Normanby  was  a  remarkable  man,  and  was  descended  from  a 
long  series  of  illustrious  ancestors.  He  was  the  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Mulgrave,  and  was  born  in  1649.  He  was  early  distinguished 
for  his  bravery  and  accomplishments.  The  inefficiency  of  his  tutor 
induced  him,  at  twelve  years  of  age,  to  educate  himself;  and 
his  literary  acquisitions  are  the  more  wonderful,  inasmuch  as 
those  years  in  which  they  are  commonly  made,  were  spent  by  him 
in  the  tumult  of  a  military  life,  or  the  gaiety  of  a  court.  At  seven- 
teen, when  war  was  declared  against  the  Dutch,  he  engaged  as 
a  volunteer  on  board  the  ship  in  which  Prince  Rupert  sailed,  and 
was  rewarded  for  his  zeal  by  the  command  of  one  of  the  inde- 
pendent troops  of  horse  then  raised  to  protect  the  coast.  When 
another  Dutch  war  broke  out  in  1672,  he  went  again  a  volunteer  in 

*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


196  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l695. 

the  ship  which  the  celebrated  Lord  Ossory  commanded ;  and  his 
behaviour  was  such  that  he  was  advanced  to  the  command  of  the 
Catherine,  the  best  second-rate  ship  in  the  navy.  In  1674,  he  ^ 
was  installed  Knight  of  the  Garter,  and  made  one  of  the  lords  of 
the  bedchamber  to  Charles  the  Second,  with  whom  he  was  a  great 
favourite.  He  afterwards  went  into  the  French  service  to  learn 
the  art  of  war  under  Turenne.  When  the  unlucky  Monmouth  fell 
into  disgrace,  he  was  recompensed  with  the  lieutenancy  of  York- 
shire and  the  government  of  Hull.  Having  had  the  boldness  to 
aspire  at  courting  Lady  Anne,  afterwards  Queen  of  England,  King 
Charles,*  in  1680,  sent  him  out  to  Tangiers,  intentionally,  it  is 
said,  in  a  leaky  ship,  hoping  that  he  would  either  perish  at  sea,  or 
in  battle  with  the  Moors  on  land.  The  Moors,  without  a  contest, 
retired  before  him,  and  he  returned  to  England  in  safety ;  was 
well  received  by  the  king,  and  continued  a  wit  and  a  courtier  as 
before.  On  the  accession  of  James  the  Second,  he  was  admitted 
into  the  Privy  Council  and  made  lord-chamberlain.  He  accepted 
a  place  in  the  high  commission ;  and,  having  few  religious  scru- 
ples, he  attended  the  king  at  mass,  and  kneeled  with  the  rest,  but 
refused  to  be  converted.  He  lamented,  but  acquiesced  in  the  re- 
volution, and  voted  for  the  conjunctive  sovereignty  of  William 
and  Mary.  For  some  years,  he  looked  on  King  William  with 
malevolence,  and  lived  without  employment ;  but,  notwithstanding 
this  aversion,  he  was  made  Marquis  of  Normanby  in  1694,  and, 
about  the  year  1700,  was  received  into  the  Cabinet  Council  with 
an  annual  yearly  pension  of  £3000.  On  the  accession  of  Anne 
in  1702,  he  was  made  Lord  Privy  Seal,  and  then  was  created  Duke 
of  Normanby,  and  afterwards  Duke  of  Buckingham.  He  died  in 
1720,  at  Buckingham  House  in  St  James's  Park,  an  edifice  which 
he  had  erected  himself,  leaving  a  son  by  his  third  wife,  a  natural 
daughter  of  King  James  by  the  Countess  of  Dorchester.  He 
was  buried  with  great  pomp  in  Westminster  Abbey,  where  a  mo- 
nument is  erected  to  his  memory,  bearing  an  inscription  of  his 
own  composition,  beginning;  "In  doubt,  but  not  in  wickedness, 
I  lived.  In  doubt,  but  not  in  fear,  I  die."  He  wrote  the  "  Vision/' 
and  other  poems;  two  tragedies,  called  "Julius  C?esar"  and  "Bru- 
tus," and  several  prose  works,  consisting  chiefly  of  historical  me- 
moirs, speeches  in  parliament,  characters,  dialogues,  and  essays.  As 
a  poet,  he  scarcely  exceeds  mediocrity  ;  though  Pope  and  others 

*  Dryden's  Miscellaneous  Works,  vol.  i.     Notes,  p.  60,  1760. 


AGE  33.]  LAST  DAYS  AT  SOUTH  ORMSBY.  197 

were  sufficiently  injfluenced  by  his  rank  and  patronage,  to  place 
him  high  among  the  votaries  of  the  muse.  Johnson's  criticism  is 
severe.  "  He  is,"  says  he,  "  a  writer  that  sometimes  glimmers,  but 
rarely  shines,  feebly  laborious,  and  at  best  but  pretty.  His  songs 
are  upon  common  topics;  he  hopes,  and  grieves,  and  repents,  and 
despairs,  and  rejoices,  like  any  other  maker  of  little  stanzas  ;  to 
be  great,  he  hardly  tries  ;  to  be  gay,  is  hardly  in  his  power.  His 
verses  are  often  insipid,  but  his  memoirs  are  lively  and  agreeable  ; 
he  had  the  persjjicuity  and  elegance  of  an  historian,  but  not  the 
fire  and  fancy  of  a  poet." 

The  same  authority  describes  his  character  somewhat  harshly. 
He  writes  : — "  His  character  is  not  to  be  proposed  as  worthy  of 
imitation.  His  religion  he  may  be  supposed  to  have  learned  from 
Hobbcs,  and  his  morality  was  such  as  naturally  proceeds  from 
loose  opinions.  His  sentiments,  with  respect  to  women,  he  picked 
up  in  the  court  of  Charles ;  and  his  principles,  concerning  pro- 
perty, were  such  as  a  gaming  table  supplies.  He  is  said,  however, 
to  have  had  much  tenderness,  and  to  have  been  very  ready  to 
apologise  for  his  violences  of  passion." 

Such,  then,  was  the  man  who  obtained  for  Samuel  Wesley  the 
living  of  South  Ormsby,  and  in  whose  house  Samuel  Wesley  acted 
as  domestic  chaplain.  The  year  in  which  he  asked  that  Wesley 
might  be  made  an  Irish  bishop,  was  the  year  in  which  he  himself 
was  created  Marquis  of  Normanby.  Had  his  request  been  pre- 
ferred to  King  James,  or  to  Queen  Anne,  it  would  probably  have 
been  successful,  but  with  King  William  and  Queen  Mary  he  was 
no  favourite. 

The  Marquis  of  Normanby  was  a  distinguished  man,  but  his  prin- 
ciples and  morality  were  loose,  and  Samuel  Wesley's  position,  as 
domestic  chaplain,  was  not  always  the  most  comfortable.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  the  following  question  and  answer  in  the 
Athenian  Oracle,  (vol.  i.  p.  542,)  were  written  by  Wesley,  and 
refer  to  his  own  office  in  the  family  of  the  marquis  : — 

"  Question. — I  am  a  chaplain  in  a  certain  family,  which  is  not  so 
regular  and  religious  as  I  could  wish  it.  I  am  forced  to  see 
misses,  drinking,  gaming,  &c.,  and  dare  not  open  my  mouth  against 
them,  supposing  from  tlie  little  notice  that  is  taken  of  me  in  mat- 
ters of  religion,  and  the  great  distance  my  patron  keeps,  that  if 
I  should  pretend  to  blame  anything  of  that  nature,  it  would  occa- 
sion nothing  but  the  turning  me  out  of  the  family.    In  the  mean- 


198  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l695. 

time  unless  I  do  speak,  and  modestly  remonstrate,  I  think  I  do 
not  what  becomes  a  minister  of  religion,  and  am  afraid  may 
another  day  be  justly  condemned  as  partaker  in  other  men's  sins. 
Therefore,  gentlemen,  my  humble  request  is  to  know  of  you  what 
I  ought  to  do,  neither  to  betray  the  cause  of  religion  nor  give 
offence.  I  would  gladly  be  satisfied  how  far  a  chaplain  is  obliged 
to  take  care  of  the  morals  of  the  family  he  lives  in.  Your  answer 
may  be  of  use  to  a  great  many  beside  myself,  for  my  case  is  far 
from  being  singular.  I  cannot  believe  that  to  say  grace  and  read 
prayers  now  and  then,  when  my  patron  is  at  leisure,  is  all  the  duty 
of  a  chaplain,  yet  I  find  that  we  all  think  we  have  done  enough 
when  we  have  done  that." 

"  Answer. — The  pulpit  is  a  privileged  place,  where,  as  custom 
has  given  you  authority  to  speak,  so  you  may  with  prudence  so 
moderate  your  discourse  as  either  to  accomplish  a  reformation,  or 
at  least  acquit  yourself  and  discharge  your  own  duty.  Kighteous- 
ness,  temperance,  and  the  judgment  to  come,  if  reasoned  upon,  as 
they  were  almost  seventeen  ages  since,  may  find  a  second  Felix. 
The  pulpit  is  the  most  proper,  and  sometimes  the  only,  place  to 
convince  strangers  of  their  faults,  but  private  retirements  are 
convenient  for  friends  and  familiars.  These  are  rules  of  latitude, 
but  all  the  world  is  reducible  to  one  of  them,  and  the  practice  is 
indisputable." 

No  doubt  "  the  misses,  drinking,  and  gaming,"  of  the  Marquis 
of  Normanby's  house,  occasioned  the  chaplain  much  uneasiness 
and  distress  of  mind.  The  marquis  was  kind,  but  he  was  a  rake  ; 
and  Wesley  was  brought  into  company,  not  only  with  him  but  with 
his  mistresses.  To  a  man  like  himself,  of  the  highest  honour  and 
strictest  principles,  this  was  extremely  trying.  At  length  matters 
came  to  a  crisis.  The  following  is  given  on  the  authority  of  Mr 
Wesley's  son  John  : — 

"  The  Marquis  of  Normanby  had  a  house  in  the  parish  of  South 
Ormsby,  where  a  woman  who  lived  with  him  usually  resided. 
This  lady  would  be  intimate  with  my  mother,  vs^hether  she  would 
or  not.  To  such  an  intercourse  my  father  would  not  submit. 
Coming  in  one  day,  and  finding  this  intrusive  visitant  sitting  with 
ray  mother,  he  went  up  to  her,  took  her  by  the  hand,  and  very 
fairly  handed  her  out.  The  nobleman  resented  the  affront  so  out- 
rageously, as  to  make  it  necessary  for  my  father  to  resign  the 
living." 


A(iE  33.]  LAST  DAYS  AT  SOUTH  OEMSBY,  199 

Such,  then,  was  the  occasion  of  Samuel  Wesley  leaving  South 
Ormsby.  Tliis  happened  about  the  year  1696.  While,  however, 
Wesley  resigned  the  South  Ormsby  living,  he  retained  his  chap- 
laincy in  the  house  of  the  Marquis  of  Normanby.  Four  years 
after  this,  in  1700,  when  he  published  his  "  Short  Discourse  on 
Baptism,"  he  announced  himself  on  the  title  page  as  "  Chaplain  to 
the  Most  Honourable  John  Lord  Marquis  of  Normanby;"  and  a 
year  later,  in  1701,  he  dedicated  his  "  History  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament"  to  the  Marchioness  of  Normanby,  in  a  prosaic  but 
flattering  dedication  ;  while  about  the  same  time,  to  relieve  Wesley 
from  some  of  his  financial  embarrassments,  the  marquis,  with  his 
own  hand,  gave  him  twenty  guineas,  and  the  marchioness  five  ! 
All  this  shows  that,  though  his  rupture  with  the  marquis's  mis- 
tress rendered  it  expedient  that  he  should  remove  from  the  parish 
in  which  she  lived ;  he  still,  for  years  afterwards,  retained  his 
office  in  the  marquis's  family,  and  participated  in  the  practical 
friendship  of  both  him  and  the  marchioness  his  wife. 

During  the  years  that  Mr  Wesley  spent  at  South  Ormsby  five 
or  six  children  seem  to  have  been  born  to  him.      Samuel,  the 
eldest  of  the  family,  was  born  in  London ;  the  names  of  the  five 
or  six,  born  at  South  Ormsby,  were  Susannah,  Emilia,  Annesley, ' 
Jedidiah,  Susannah,  and  Mary. 

The  first,  Susannah,  died  in  April  1693,  when  a  little  more 
than  two  years  old.  Emilia  was  baptized  by  her  father  in  South 
Ormsby  church,  January  13,  1692.  Arriving  at  womanhood  she 
married  a  Quaker,  an  apothecary  at  Epworth,  of  the  name  of 
Harper,  who  left  her  a  young  widow.  Her  husband  was  a  violent 
Whig,  and  she  was  an  unbending  Tory.  About  five  years  before 
her  father's  death,  she  became  a  teacher  at  the  boarding-school  of 
a  Mrs  Taylor,  in  Lincoln,  where  she  received  bad  treatment  and 
worse  wages.  In  1735  she  set  up  a  school  of  her  own  at  Gains- 
borough. Eor  many  years  before  her  death,  she  was  maintained 
entirely  by  her  brothers,  and  lived  at  the  preachers'  house  adjoin- 
ing the  chapel  in  West  Street,  Seven  Dials,  London.  She  died  at 
nearly  eighty  years  of  age,  about  the  year  1770.  She  is  reported 
to  have  been  beautiful  in  face  and  figure,  and  majestic  in  her 
address  and  carriage,  and  to  have  had  "  strong  sense,  much  wit, 
a  prodigious  memory,  and  a  talent  for  poetry."  She  was  a  good 
classical  scholar,  and  wrote  a  beautiful  hand.  John  Wesley  said 
she  was  the  best  reader  of  Milton  that  he  ever  heard. 


200  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l695. 

Annesley  and  Jedidiah  were  twins.  They  were  baptized  Decem- 
ber 3,  1794,  and  both  of  them  died  in  infancy. 

Susannah,  the  second,  was  born  in  1795,  and,  at  the  age  of 
about  twenty-six,  was  married  to  Richard  Ellison,  Esq.,  a  man 
of  good  family,  who  farmed  his  own  estate,  and  had  a  respect- 
able establishment.  She  was  good-natured,  very  facetious,  and  a 
little  romantic,  but  behaved  herself  with  the  strictest  moral  correct- 
ness. She  had  a  mind  naturally  strong  and  vivacious,  and  well 
refined  by  a  good  education.  Her  husband  was  little  inferior  to 
the  apostate  angels  in  wickedness.  His  mind  was  common,  coarse, 
and  uncultivated.  He  was  the  plague  of  his  wife,  and  a  constant 
affliction  to  her  family.  After  bearing  him  several  children,  she  left 
him,  and  hid  herself  in  London,  where  she  had  considerable  helps 
from  her  brother  John.  Henceforth  she  firmly  refused  to  see  her 
faithless  and  brutal  husband,  or  to  have  any  intercourse  with  him. 
Her  son  John  lived  and  died  an  excise-officer  in  Bristol.  Her 
daughter  Ann  married  Mr  Pierre  le  Lievre,  a  French  Protestant 
refugee,  whose  son  Peter  Avas  educated  at  Kingswood  school,  took 
orders  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  died  at  Lutterworth,  in 
Leicestershire.  Her  daughter  Deborah  married  Mr  Pierre  Collet, 
another  French  refugee ;  and  her  son,  Richard  Annesley,  died  at 
the  age  of  twenty-seven,  leaving  two  orphan  daughters,  of  whom 
Mrs  Voysey,  the  excellent  wife  of  a  pious  dissenting  minister,  was 
one.  Mrs  Ellison's  husband  was  reduced  to  a  state  of  poverty, 
and,  through  her  brother  John,  obtained  alms  from  Ebenezer 
Blackwell.*  It  is  pleasing  to  relate  that,  at  length,  he  became  a 
reformed  man ;  and  that,  on  the  11th  of  April  1760,  Charles 
Wesley  writes  :  "  I  buried  my  brother  Ellison,  and  prayed  by  him 
in  his  last  moments.  He  said  he  was  not  afraid  to  die,  and  be- 
lieved God,  for  Christ's  sake,  had  forgiven  him."  * 

Mary  Wesley  was  born  in  1696,  and,  therefore,  just  about  the 
time  that  her  father  left  South  Ormsby.  She  was  married  to 
John  Whitelamb,  whom  we  shall  have  to  notice  in  a  future  chapter. 
Through  afflictions,  and,  probably,  through  some  mismanagement 
in  her  nurse,  she  became  considerably  deformed,  and  her  growth 
in  consequence  was  much  stinted :  but  all  written  and  oral  testi- 
monies concur  in  the  statement  that  her  face  was  exquisitely 
beautiful,  and  was  a  fair  and  legible  index  to  a  mind  and  disposi- 
tion almost  angelic.     Her  humble,  obliging,  even,  and  amiable 

*  Wesley's  Worl-x,  vol.  xii.  p.  165. 


AGE  33.]  LAST  DAYS  AT  SOUTH  ORMSBY.  201 

temper,  made  her  the  favourite  and  delight  of  the  whole  Wesley 
family.  She  died  in  early  womanhood  in  becoming  the  mother 
of  her  first  child.  John  Wesley  preached  her  funeral  sermon 
at  Wroote ;  and  her  sister  Mehetabel  wrote  an  elegy,  which  was 
published  in  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine  for  1736,  an  extract  from 
which,  on  account  of  its  delineation  of  character  and  exquisite 
poetry,  is  here  subjoined  :  — 

"  From  earliest  dawn  of  life,  through  thee  alone, 
The  saint  sublime,  the  finish'd  Christian  shone ; 
Yet  would  not  grace  one  grain  of  pride  allow, 
Or  cry,  "  Stand  off,  I'm  holier  than  thou  ! " 
With  business  or  devotion  never  cloy'd, 
No  moment  of  thy  time  pass'd  unemploy'd  ; 
Well-natured  mirth,  mature  discretion  join'd, 
Most  sure  attendants  on  the  virtuous  mind  ! 
A  worth  so  singular,  since  time  began. 
But  one  surpass'd,  and  he  was  more  than  man. 
Nor  was  thy  form  unfair,  (though  Heaven  confined 
To  scanty  limits  thy  exalted  mind.) 
Witness  the  brow,  so  faultless,  open,  clear. 
That  none  could  ask  if  honesty  was  there; 
Witness  the  taintless  lustre  of  thy  skin, 
Bright  emblem  of  the  brighter  soul  within  ! 
That  soul  which  easy,  unaffected,  mild, 
Through  jetty  eyes,  with  cheerful  sweetness  smiled. 
But  oh  !  could  fancy  reach  or  language  speak 
The  living  beauties  of  thy  lip  and  cheek. 
Where  nature's  pencil,  leaving  art  no  room. 
Touched  to  a  miracle  the  vernal  bloom  ; 
Lost  though  thou  art,  in  Stella^ s  faithful  line, 
Thy  face,  immortal  as  thy  fame,  should  shine. 
To  soundest  prudence,  (life's  unerring  guide,) 
To  love  sincere,  religion  void  of  pride, 
To  friendship  perfect  in  a  female  mind. 
Which  I  nor  wish  nor  hope  on  earth  to  find ; 
To  mirth,  (the  balm  of  care,)  from  lightness  free. 
To  steadfast  truth,  unwearied  industry, 
To  every  charm  and  grace  comprised  in  you, 
Most  worthy  friend,  a  long  and  last  adieu  !" 

Little  South  Orrasby,  to  all  interested  in  the  history  of  the 
Wesley  family,  will  always  be  an  attractive  place.  Here  Samuel 
Wesley  spent  about  six  of  the  best  years  of  his  life,  and  wrote 
some  of  his  ablest  works.  Here  he  had  at  least  five  children 
born,  and  here  he  buried  three.  Hither  he  took  his  young  wife, 
and  his  first-born  son,  Samuel.  Here  he  had  to  join  his  wife  in 
mourning  the  death  of  her  father,  Dr  Annesley ;  and  from  here 


202  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l695. 

to  Epworth  he  and  his  wife  took  four  young  children,  the  eldest 
only  six  years  old, — Samuel,  Emilia,  Susannah,  and  Mary. 

Before  finally  quitting  South  Ormsby,  it  ought  to  be  added,  that 
Samuel  Wesley,  who  took  his  degree  of  A.B.  at  Oxford  in  1688, 
took  his  A.M.  at  Cambridge  in  1694.  The  following  notice  is 
from  the  University  Register,  Cambridge  : — 

"  Incorporated  1694. 

Sam.  Westley,  A.B.,  Coll.  Exon.  Ox. 

Samuel  Westley,  A.M.,  Coll.  C.  C.  Camb.,  1694."  * 

*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


CHAPTER  XL 

EPWOKTH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES. — 1696  1699. 

Mr  Wesley  removed  to  Epworth  sometime  during  the  year  1696 
or  1697.  This  point  is  clearly  settled  by  the  inscription  on  his 
tombstone,  which  states  that  he  died  April  25,  1735,  and  that  he 
had  been  Rector  of  Epworth  thirty-nine  years. 

Epworth,  in  the  county  of  Lincoln,  is  a  small  straggling  mar- 
ket town,  of  about  two  thousand  inhabitants.  It  is  situated 
in  what  is  called  the  Isle  of  Axholme,  a  low-lying  district,  ten 
miles  long  and  four  broad,  surrounded  by  the  three  rivers,  Trent, 
Don,  and  Idle.  The  island  contains  thirty-seven  thousand  eight 
hundred  acres  of  land,  and  is  divided  into  the  seven  parishes  of  Ep- 
worth, Althorpe,  Belton,  Crowle,  Haxey,  Luddington,  and  Owston, 
with  their  respective  hamlets  attached.  Until  within  a  short  time 
before  Mr  Wesley's  removal  to  Epworth,  the  whole  of  this  district 
was  little  better  than  a  swamp  ;  but,  at  a  great  expense,  it  had  re- 
cently been  drained,  and  it  is  now  exceedingly  rich  and  fertile. 
Epworth  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  island,  and  on  the  side  of  a 
small  sloping  hill.  The  view  from  the  churchyard  is  extensive, 
terminating  on  the  north  with  the  Yorkshire  wolds,  and  on  the 
south  with  Gringley-on-the-Hill;  on  the  east  with  the  town  of 
Kirton,  and  on  the  west  with  the  spire  of  the  church  of  Laugh- 
ton-en-le-Morthen. 

Epworth  church  is  dedicated  to  Saint  Andrew,  and  consists  of  a 
nave,  of  aisles,  of  a  chancel,  and  a  tower.  The  parsonage,  first 
occupied  by  Mr  Wesley,  is  thus  described  in  a  document  dated 
1607: — "  It  consists  of  five  bales,  built  all  of  timber  and  plaster, 
and  covered  with  straw  thatche,  the  whole  building  being  con- 
trived into  three  stories,  and  disposed  in  seven  chiefe  rooms — a 
kitchinge,  a  hall,  a  parlour,  a  butterie,  and  three  large  upper 
rooms,  and  some  others  of  common  use ;  and  also  a  little  garden 


2J-i  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lG07. 

empailed  betwine  the  stone-wall  and  the  south,  on  the  south." 
There  was  also  "one  barn  of  six  bales,  built  all  of  timber  and  clay 
walls,  and  covered  with  straw  thatche  ;  with  outshotts  about  it, 
and  free  house  therebye."  There  was  likewise,  "  one  dovecoate  of 
timber  and  plaister  covered  with  straw  thatche ;"  and,  finally, 
there  was  "  one  hemp-kiln,  that  hath  been  usealeie  occupied  for  the 
parsonage  ground,  and  joyning  upon  the  south."  The  entire  site 
of  the  parsonage  and  its  adjuncts  covered  about  three  acres.* 
Here  Samuel  Wesley  lived  for  about  nine  and  thirty  years.  Let 
us  trace  his  history. 

Very  shortly  after  his  removal  to  Epworth,  his  daughter  Mehe- 
tabel  was  born.  Henry  Moore  and  Adam  Clarke  say,  she  was  her 
mother's  tenth  or  eleventh  child ;  but  that  is  an  evident  mis- 
take, for  Mehetabel  was  born  in  1697,  which  was  only  the  eighth 
year  after  her  mother's  marriage,  f  The  whole  of  the  Wesley  family 
were  gifted  with  poetic  genius,  but  Mehetabel  perhaps  shone  the 
brightest,  Samuel  and  Charles  not  excepted.  From  her  childhood, 
she  was  gay  and  sprightly,  full  of  mirth,  good  humour,  and  keen 
wit.  At  the  early  age  of  eight  years,  she  had  made  such  pro- 
ficiency in  learning,  that  she  could  read  the  Greek  Testament. 
When  about  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  she  was  prevented  marry- 
ing a  man  whom  her  father  called  "an  unprincipled  lawyer;" 
and,  in  the  height  of  her  vexation,  made  the  rash  vow,  either  never 
to  marry  another,  or  to  take  the  first  that  might  offer.  Shortly 
after,  she  had  an  offer  of  marriage  from  a  man  named  Wright,  a 
journeyman  plumber  and  glazier.  Her  father,  fearing  that  she 
might  still  marry  the  man  who  had  jilted  her,  urged  her  to  marry 
Wright.  She  unhappily  did  so,  and  found  her  husband  to  be  ut- 
terly unsuited  to  her  in  all  respects.  Her  uncle  Matthew  gave  her 
a  small  marriage  portion,  and,  with  this,  Wright  set  up  business 
for  himself.  He  then  began  to  associate  with  low  dissolute  com- 
panions, spent  his  evenings  from  home,  became  a  drunkard ;  and, 
by  ill-treatment,  broke  the  heart  of  his  wife.  In  a  most  exquisite 
poetical  address  to  her  husband,  she  speaks  of  her  "heart-breaking 
sighs  and  fruitless  tears;"  often  does  she  spend  "half  the  lonely 
night"  in  waiting  for  her  absent  husband,  and  then,  on  his  coming 
home  from  his  carousals,  "curbs  her  sighs,  conceals  her  cares," 
dashes  away  her  tears ;  and,  to  please  him,  puts  on  a  cheerful 

*  Stonehouse's  History  of  Axhohne. 

iSecClaxk^'a  Wesley  Family.     Note,  vol.  ii.  p.  136. 


AGE  35.]  EPWORTH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  20.5 

"  smile."  But  despite  all  her  attention  and  her  tenderness,  he 
still  runs  to  "  obscure  and  unclean  retreats,"  and  associates  with 
drunken  blackouards,  who,  as  a  great  achievement,  grin  at  "  obscene 
jests  and  witless  oaths."  She  then  concludes  her  poem  with  the 
threat,  that  if  this  effort  to  regain  his  affection  fails,  she  will  aban- 
don patience,  and  give  herself  up  to  rage  and  grief,  until  death 
restores  to  Wright  his  liberty,  and  gives  him  the  opportunity  "  to 
laugh  when  Hetty  is  no  more."* 

Her  husband  carried  on.  his  business  of  plumbing  and  glazing 
in  Frith  Street,  Soho,  London.  They  had  several  children,  all  of 
whom  died  young.  On  the  death  of  one  of  her  infants  in  1728, 
she  wrote  the  following  beautifully  pathetic,  but  sad  and  sadden- 
ing poem  : — 

"  Tender  softness  !  infant  mild  ! 
Perfect,  sweetest,  loveliest  child  ! 
Transient  lustre  !  beauteous  clay  ! 
Smiling  wonder  of  a  day  ! 
Ere  the  last  convulsive  start, 
Rend  thy  unresisting  heart ; 
Ere  the  long-enduring  swoon 
Weigh  thy  precious  eye-lids  down  ; 
Ah,  regard  a  mother's  moan  ; 
Anguish  deeper  than  thy  own  ! 

"  Fairest  eyes,  whose  dawning  light, 
Late  with  rapture  bless'd  my  sight ; 
Ere  your  orbs  extinguish'd  be. 
Bend  their  trembling  beams  on  me  ! 
Drooping  sweetness  !  verdant  flower  ! 
Blooming,  with'ring  in  an  hour  ! 
Ere  thy  gentle  breast  sustains 
Latest,  fiercest,  mortal  pains, 
Hear  a  suppliant !  let  me  be 
Partner  in  thy  destiny  ! 
That  whene'er  the  fatal  cloud 
Must  thy  radiant  temples  shroud  ; 
When  deadly  damps  (impending  now) 
Shall  hover  round  thy  destined  brow 
Diffusing  may  their  influence  be. 
And  with  the  blossom  blast  the  treef'f 

These  almost  inimitable  lines  were  sent  to  the  Eev.  John 
Wesley  by  Mehetabel's  wretched  husband,  and  were  accompanied 
by  the  following  letter,  which  is  given  here,  as  a  contrast  to  his 

*  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.,  p.  75. 
t  Armmian  Magazine,  1778,  p.  718. 


206  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l697. 

wife's  poem,  and  to  show  how  the  two  were  utterly  unsuited  for 
each  other : — 

"  Deak  Bko, — This  comes  to  Let  you  know  that  my  wife  is 
brought  to  bed  and  is  in  a  hopeful!  way  of  Doing  well  but  the 
Dear  child  Died — the  Third  day  after  it  was  born — which  has 
been  of  great  concerne  to  me  and  my  wife  She  Joynes  With 
me  in  Love  to  your  Selfe  and  Bro.  Charles 

"  From  your  loveing  Bro.  to  Comnd 

"  Wm.  Weight. 

"  P.S. — Ive  sen  you  sum  verses  that  my  wife  maid  of  Dear 
Lamb  Let  me  hear  from  one  or  both  of  you  as  soon  as  you 
think  Conveniant." 

Dr  Adam  Clarke  observes,  that  Wright's  letter  is,  like  the 
ancient  Hebrew,  without  points. 

We  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  give  another  poetic  extract, 
as  illustrative  of  Mehetabel  Wesley's  fine  genius.  It  is  selected 
from  a  poem,  entitled,  "  A  Farewell  to  the  World,"  and  refers  to 
past  days  of  happiness  spent  in  the  company  of  her  sister  Mary. 
After  speaking  of  their  visits  to  the  poor  and  sick,  she  writes  : — 

"  Wan,  meagre  forma,  torn  from  impending  death, 
Exulting,  blest  us  with  reviving  breath — 
The  shivering  wretch  we  clothed,  the  mourner  cheer'd. 
And  sickness  ceased  to  groan  when  we  appear'd — 
Unask'd,  our  care  assists  with  tender  art 
Their  bodies,  nor  neglects  the  immortal  part. 
Sometimes  in  shades,  unpierced  by  Cynthia's  beam. 
Whose  lustre  glimmer'd  on  the  dimpled  stream, 
We  wander'd  innocent  through  sylvan  scenes. 
Or  tripp'd  like  fairies  o'er  the  level  greens — 
From  fragrant  herbage  deck'd  with  pearly  dews, 
And  flowerets  of  a  thousand  different  hues, 
By  wafting  gales  the  mingling  odours  fly, 
And  round  our  heads  in  whispering  breezes  sigh — 
Whole  nature  seems  to  heighten  and  improve 
The  holier  hours  of  innocence  and  love. 

"  Nor  close  the  blissful  scene,  exhausted  muse, 
The  latest  blissful  scene  that  thou  shalt  choose ; 
Satiate  with  life,  what  joys  for  me  remain, 
Save  one  dear  wish,  to  balance  every  pain, — 
To  bow  my  head,  with  grief  and  toil  opprest, 
Till  borne  by  angel-bands  to  everlasting  rest ! " 


AGE  35.]  EPWOETH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  207 

This  remarkable  woman,  in  after  years,  found  peace  with  God. 
Charles  Wesley  speaks  of  her  as  "  a  gracious,  tender,  trembling 
soul ;  a  bruised  reed,  which  the  Lord  will  not  break ;  still  harassed 
with  '  darkness,  doubts,  and  fears,'  but  against  hope  believing  in 
hope."  This  was  a  few  days  before  she  died,  in  the  year  1750.* 
John  Wesley  says,  that  for  some  years  before  her  death  she  was 
"  a  witness  of  that  rest  which  remains  even  here  for  the  people 
of  God."  f  l  Mr  Kirk  justly  remarks,  that  a  careful  analysis  of 
Mehetabel's  mental  powers,  a  full  estimate  of  her  highly  poetic 
genius,  and  a  complete  collection  of  her  poems,  would  form  a 
volume  of  no  ordinary  interest  and  value. 

But  to  return  to  the  parents  of  this  gifted  woman : — Very  soon 
after  their  settlement  at  Epworth,  Susannah  Wesley  was  bereaved, 
by  death,  of  her  sister  Dunton.     Her  father  died  just  before  the 

*  See  C.  Wesley's  Journal.  f  Arminian  Magazine,  1778,  p.  235. 

+  As  a  specimen  of  Mehetabel's  wit,  we  subjoin  the  following  riddle  respecting 
a  pen,  published  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1734,  and  subscribed  by  her 
usual  signature  in  that  periodical,  "Sylvius:  " — 

"A  RIDDLE. 

"  I  am  an  implement  that's  common. 
Much  occupied  by  man  and  woman  ; 
Not  very  thick,  nor  very  long. 
Yet  tolerably  stiff  and  strong. 
If  inches  twelve  may  give  content, 
That  measures  much  about  my  stent. 
Sometimes  I  'm  only  used  for  pleasure. 
And  then  I'm  jaded  out  of  measure; 
If  a  young,  vigorous  bard  employs  me, 
Egad,  e'en  to  the  stumps  he  tries  me  ; 

A  parson  to  get  one  in  ten  i 

In  private  plies  me  now  and  then ; 
The  lawyer,  and  the  doctor  too. 
For  fees  will  wear  me  black  and  blue. 
I  have  a  dribbling  at  the  nose, 
Which  leaves  a  stain  where'er  it  goes, 
And  yet  the  fairest  nymph  will  use  me, 
The  queen  herself  will  not  refuse  me. 
I  'm  used  by  numbers  of  all  arts, 
Who  would  be  reckon'd  men  of  parts ; 
And  none  esteems  a  lady  polish 'd 
AVho  has  not  often  me  demolish'd  ; 
And  let  me  tell  you,  by  the  by, 
A  minute's  labour  drains  me  dry; 
I  'm  now  exhausted,  so  have  done ; 
Now  who,  or  what  I  am  make  known." 


208  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [lG97. 

removal  to  Ep worth  ;  her  sister  just  after.  This  double  bereave- 
ment was  a  most  painful  trial.  Elizabeth  Dunton,  like  her  sister 
Susannah  Wesley,  was  a  remarkable  woman.  From  her  childhood 
she  was  pious.  She  was  so  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  that,  if  any  text  was  quoted,  she  could  at  once  tell  the 
book,  chapter,  and  verse  where  it  might  be  found.  For  nearly 
twenty  years,  she  kept  a  diary,  and  wrote  so  copiously,  that  her 
experiences  and  meditations,  if  printed,  would  have  filled  a  folio. 
"  She  was  a  lover  of  solitude  ;  and  Sabbaths,  sermons,  and  sacra- 
ments were  the  best  refreshments  she  met  with  in  her  way  to 
glory.  Her  mind  was  always  full  of  charity  towards  those  who 
might  differ  from  her  in  matters  of  opinion.  She  loved  the  image 
of  Christ  wherever  it  was  formed.  In  her  last  sickness,  which 
lasted  about  seven  months,  she  never  uttered  a  repining  word ; 
and  throughout  the  whole  there  was  no  doubt  upon  her  spirit 
as  to  her  future  happiness.  Among  her  last  utterances  were  the 
following : — "  Heaven  will  make  amends  for  all ;  it  is  but  a  little 
while  before  I  shall  be  happy.  I  have  good  ground  to  hope  that 
when  I  die,  through  Christ,  I  shall  be  blessed.  It  is  a  solemn 
thing  to  die.  Oh,  this  eternity !  There  is  no  time  for  preparing 
for  heaven  like  youth.  I  look  back  with  joy  on  some  of  the 
early  years  that  I  sweetly  spent  in  my  father's  house.  Oh,  what 
a  mercy  it  is  to  be  dedicated  to  God  betimes ! "  * 

At  her  own  desire,  she  was  buried  in  Bunhill  Fields,  Her 
funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Eev.  Timothy  Kogers,  M.A., 
and  was  published  in  a  volume  of  nearly  three  hundred  pages. -f- 

The  following  is  Dunton's  description  of  her  before  their 
marriage  : — "  Tall ;  of  good  aspect ;  hair  of  light  chestnut  colour ; 

*  See  Dunton's  Life  and  Errors. 

f  Timothy  Rogers  was  a  Nonconformist  preacher;  a  good  man,  to  whom 
Samuel  Wesley,  in  a  subsequent  letter,  acknowledges  himself  greatly  indebted. 
Besides  his  voluminous  funeral  sermon  for  Mrs  Dunton,  he  published  a  book, 
entitled,  "  Fall  not  out  by  the  Way ;  or,  A  Persuasion  to  a  Friendly  Correspond- 
ence between  the  Conformists  and  Nonconformists."  Judging  from  the  funeral 
sermon  now  before  us,  he  was  a  man  of  great  vivacity,  wit,  and  mental  vigour. 
He  was  also  imbued  with  a  thoroughly  catholic  and  Christian  spirit.  "  The  way 
to  agreement  of  all  parties,"  he  writes,  "  is  not  to  bring  men  to  be  of  one 
opinion,  but  to  be  of  one  mind;  which  we  may  be,  not  by  thinking  the  same 
things,  but  by  thinking  well  one  of  another,  endeavouring  to  preserve  charity  as 
carefully  as  to  preserve  truth.  Carnal  zeal  may  put  us  on  disputing,  but  true 
zeal  will  put  us  upon  prayer.  For  my  part,  I  had  rather  be  a  quiet  ploughman 
than  a  fiery  philosopher." 


AGE  35.]  EPWOETH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  209 

dark,  eyes  ;  mouth  small  and  sweet ;  air  somewhat  melancholy, 
but  agreeable  ;  neck  long  and  graceful ;  complexion  fair ;  piety 
scarce  paralleled,  and  wit  solid.  She  is  sweetly  modest,  and  has 
all  kinds  of  virtues.  She  is  an  agreeable  acquaintance,  a 
trusty  friend,  and  is  mistress  of  all  the  graces  that  make  a  perfect 
woman." 

In  another  place  he  writes  concerning  her  : — "  For  the  fifteen 
years  we  lived  together  there  never  passed  an  angry  look.  Her 
sympathies  with  me,  in  all  the  distresses  of  my  life,  make  her 
virtues  shine  with  the  greater  lustre.  Like  the  glow-worm,  that 
emblem  of  true  friendship,  she  shined  to  me,  even  in  the  dark. 
My  head  no  sooner  ached,  but  her  heart  felt  it.  To  requite  her 
love  I  would  have  stripped  myself  to  my  very  skin ;  yea  mortgaged 
my  very  flesh  to  have  served  her.  Indeed  all  our  distresses  of  body 
and  mind  were  so  equally  divided,  that  all  hers  were  mine,  and  all 
mine  were  hers." 

Dunton  desired  Samuel  Wesley  to  write  an  epitaph  for  his  de- 
parted wife.  Wesley  complied  with  the  request,  and  with  the 
epitaph  sent  the  following  significant  epistle  : — 


"  Epworth,  July  24,  16^7. 
"  Dear  Brother, — It  has  been  neither  unkindness  to  you,  with 
whom  I  have  traded  and  been  justly  used  for  many  years,  nor  un- 
thankfulness  to  Mr  Eogers,  (for  I  shall  own  my  obligations  to  that 
good  man  while  I  live,)  which  has  made  me  so  long  neglect  answer- 
ing your  several  letters  ;  but  the  hurry  of  a  remove,*  and  my  ex- 
traordinary business,  being  obliged  to  preach  the  visitation  sermon 
at  Gainsborough,  at  the  bishop's  coming  hither,  which  is  but  just 
over.  Besides,  I  would  fain  have  sent  you  an  elegy  as  well  as  an 
epitaph,  but  cannot  get  one  to  my  mind,  and  therefore  you  must 
be  content  with  half  your  desire;  and  if  you  please  to  accept 
this  epitaph,  it  is  at  your  service.  I  hope  it  will  come  before 
you  need  another  epithalamium. — I  am,  your  obliged  friend  and 
brother, 

"S.  Wesley."! 


*  This  indicates  tkat  Samuel  Wesley  did  not  remove  to  Epworth  until  the 
spring,  or  early  summer  of  1697. 
f  Dunton's  Life  and  En-m-s. 

0 


210  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1097. 

The  epitaph  was  as  follows,  and  is  engraved  on  Mrs  Dunton's 
tomb : — 

"  Tears  to  the  memory  of  Mrs  Elizabeth  Dunton,  who  departed  this  life, 
May  28,  1697— 

"  Sacred  urn  !  with  whom  we  trust 
This  dear  pile  of  sacred  dust ; 
Know  thy  charge,  and  safely  guard. 
Till  Death's  brazen  gate's  unbarr'd ; 
Till  the  Angel  bids  it  rise, 
•  And  removes  to  Paradise.  , 

A  wife  obliging,  tender,  wise ; 
A  friend  to  comfort  and  advise  ; 
Virtue,  mild  as  Zephyr's  breath ; 
Piety,  which  smiled  in  death  : 
Such  a  wife  and  such  a  friend 
All  lament,  and  all  commend. 
Most,  with  eating  cares,  opprest. 
He  who  knew  and  loved  her  best ; 
Who  her  loyal  heart  did  share, 
He  who  reign'd  unrivall'd  there. 
And  no  truce  to  sighs  will  give. 
Till  he  die  with  her  to  live. 
Or,  if  more  we  would  comprize, 
Here  interr'd  Eliza  lies." 

This  epitaph  was  written  within  two  months  after  Mrs  Dunton's 
death.  Dunton  was  professing  unutterable  distress  on  account  of 
his  wife's  decease,  and  Wesley,  in  his  epitaph,  represents  him  as 
resolved  to  lieave  his  agonizing  sighs  until  death  should  re-unite 
them  in  a  more  blissful  world  than  this ;  and  yet,  in  the  midst  of 
all  this  pretended  blubberment,  Dunton  was  sweethearting  another 
lady,  and,  before  the  year  was  out,  actually  made  her  his  second 
wife.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  Samuel  Wesley  had  some 
knowledge  of  this  unseemly  haste  to  contract  another  matrimonial 
alliance,  when,  in  the  foregoing  letter,  he  expressed  the  hope  that 
the  epitaph  for  Dunton's  dead  wife  would  come  to  hand  before  he 
needed  an  epithalamium  for  his  second  one. 

Wesley  and  Dunton  had  been  warm  and  faithful  friends  for,  at 
least,  the  last  fifteen  years  ;  but,  from  this  period,  their  friendship 
seems  to  have  entirely  ceased,  and,  ever  after,  Dunton  speaks  of 
his  old  friend  with  unmistakable  animosity.  "  Now  my  purse  is 
empty,"  snarls  Dunton,  "  nobody  knows  me.  There  is  the  rector 
of  Epworth,  that  got  his  bread  by  the  Maggots  I  published.  He 
has  quite  forgotten  me."       Again — "  My  old  friend,  Mr  Samuel 


AGE  35.]  EPWOKTH  AND  CHEISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  21 1 

Wesley,  was  educated  upon  charity  in  a  private  academy,  if  we 
may  take  his  own  word  for  it  in  his  late  pamphlet,  which  was 
designedly  written  to  expose  and  overthrow  those  academies.  One 
would  have  thought  that,  either  gratitude  or  his  own  reputation 
among  his  relations  and  best  friends,  might  have  kept  him  silent, 
though  when  a  man  is  resolved  to  do  himself  a  mischief,  who  can 
help  it.  Mr  Wesley  had  an  early  inclination  to  poetry,  but  he 
usually  wrote  too  fast  to  write  well.  Two  hundred  couplets  a  day 
are  too  many  by  two-thirds  to  be  well  furnished  with  all  the 
beauties  and  graces  of  that  art.  He  wrote  very  much  for  me, 
both  in  verse  and  prose,  though  I  shall  not  name  over  the  titles^ 
because  I  am  as  unwilling  to  see  my  name  at  the  bottom  of  them> 
as  Mr  Wesley  would  be  to  subscribe  his  own.  Mr  Wesley  had 
read  much,  and  is  well  skilled  in  the  languages  ;  he  is  generous 
and  good-humoured,  and  caresses  his  friends  with  a  great  deal  of 
passion  so  long  as  their  circumstances  are  anything  in  order,  and 
then  he  drops  them.  I  challenge  the  rector  of  Epworth  (for  he 
is  not  yet  *  My  Lord,'  nor  '  His  Grace/)  to  prove  that  I  injure 
him  in  his  character.  I  could  be  very  maggoty  in  the  character 
of  this  conforming  Dissenter ;  but,  except  he  further  provokes 
me,  I  bid  him  farewell  till  we  meet  in  heaven,  and  there  I  hope 
we  shall  renew  our  friendship  ;  for,  human  frailties  excepted,  I 
believe  Sam.  Wesley  a  pious  man.  I  shall  only  add,  that  giving 
this  true  character  of  Parson  Wesley,  is  all  the  satisfaction  I  ever 
desire  for  his  dropping  an  old  friend.  I  shall  leave  him  to  struggle 
through  life,  and  to  make  the  best  of  it ;  but,  alas  ! 

r  '  He  loves  too  much  the  Heliconian  strand, 

Whose  stream's  ungarnish'd  with  the  golden  sand.' 

I  do  not  speak  this  out  of  prejudice  to  Mr  Wesley  ;  (for  to 
forgive  a  slight  is  so  easy  to  me,  it  is  scarce  a  virtue,)  but  this 
rhyming  circumstance  of  Mr  Wesley  is  what  I  learn  from  the 
poem  called,  'The  Keformation  of  Manners,'*  where  are  theee 
words : — 

'  Wesley,  with  pen  and  poverty  beset. 
And  Blackmore,  versed  in  physic  as  in  wit ; 
Though  this  of  Jesus — that  of  Job  may  sing. 
One  bawdy  play  will  twice  their  profits  bring. 
And,  had  not  both  caress'd  the  flatter'd  crown. 
This  had  no  knighthood  seen,  nor  that  no  gown.'  "t 

*  Written  by  Defoe.  t  Dunton's  Life  and  Errors. 


21 2  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l607. 

All  this  is  despicable  growling.  Dunton  accuses  Wesley  that 
he  had  ceased  to  be  his  friend,  or,  to  use  his  own  word,  which 
twice  over  he  has  italicised,  because  he  had  dropped  him.  But 
what  of  that  ?  Had  Wesley  not  had  cause  to  drop  him  ?  Was 
it  nothing  that  this  man,  who  for  fifteen  years  had  been  blessed, 
in  the  sister  of  Susannah  Wesley,  with  one  of  the  best  wives 
that  ever  lived,  began  to  sweetheart  another  within  two  months 
after  she  was  dead,  though  all  the  while  he  was  indulging  in 
noisy  grief  for  his  irreparable  loss,  and  was  urging  Wesley  to 
write  both  an  epitaph  and  an  elegy,  for  the  devoted  and  exalted 
woman  whose  place  at  his  hearth  afnd  in  his  bed  he  was  labour- 
ing to  fill  up  with  another?  Was  it  surprising  that  Samuel 
Wesley  should  resent  this  insult  to  the  memory  of  his  wife's 
sister,  and  that  he  should  drop  the  friendship  of  a  man  who  was 
making  himself  such  a  fool  ?  Wesley  was  no  longer  Dunton's 
friend ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  became  Dunton's  enemy. 
On  the  contrary,  when  Dunton  was  crushed  with  financial  em- 
barrassments, Mr  Wesley  was  not  only  a  creditor,  but  the  chief 
creditor,  and  wrote  to  Dunton  assuring  him  that  he  should  do 
nothing  to  his  prejudice.*  Dunton  himself  confesses  this;  and 
yet,  with  consummate  and  most  ungrateful  impudence,  not  only 
whines  about  Wesley's  dropped  friendship,  but  malignantly  en- 
deavours to  injure  Wesley's  fair  character. 

Dunton,  in  the  foregoing  extract,  insinuates  that  Wesley  had 
written  articles  (we  presume  in  the  Athenian  Gazette)  which 
were  discreditable  both  to  him  and  to  his  publisher ;  but,  in  the 
absence  of  something  more  than  insinuation,  and  taking  into  ac- 
count the  general  character  of  Wesley's  acknowledged  writings,  it  is 
not  unfair  to  say  that  Dunton's  inuendo  is  as  baseless  as  it  is  base. 

Dunton  intimates  that  Wesley  had  sought  to  be  made  a  bishop, 
and  had  cast  a  longing  eye  on  even  the  dignity  of  an  archbishop. 
The  same  thing  has  been  broadly  uttered  in  a  life  of  Defoe, 
recently  written  by  William  Chadwick.  This  pungent  and  scur- 
rilous author  says  : — "  Wesley  made  his  way  by  flattering  royalty  ; 
he  could  write  either  prose  or  poetry,  and  dedicate  his  work  to  the 
queen  for  the  time  being,  and  then  ask  for  a  living  as  the  reward 
of  his  services.  The  rectory  of  Epworth  was  one  produce  of  his 
pen.  Queen  Mary  being  the  patron.  The  neighbouring  living  of 
Wroot  he  obtained  for  bedaubing  with  poetic  flattery  the  Duke  of 

*  Dunton's  Life  and  Errors. 


AGE  35.]  EPWORTH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  213 

Marlborough,  after  his  victory  of  Blenheim  ;  and  his  traducing  of 
the  Dissenters  in  the  eventful  year  of  1703,  was  intended,  through 
the  royal  patronage,  to  send  this  time-serving  flatterer  into  the 
Archbishopric  of  Canterbury,  upon  the  back  of  that  unprincipled 
miscreant,  Dr  Sacheverell."* 

The  man  that  wrote  this  is  as  unprincipled  as  he  says  Sache- 
verell wa<s.  His  assertions  are  a  tissue  of  falsehoods,  in  support  of 
which  he  adduces  no  evidence  whatever.  Samuel  Wesley  would 
have  done  no  dishonour  to  a  bishop's  bench,  but  we  fearlessly  deny 
that  there  is  any  proof  existing,  except  such  as  is  found  in  mean 
insinuations,  like  those  of  John  Dunton,  that  Samuel  Wesley  ever 
even  "  desired  a  bishop's  office,  much  less  that  he  wrote  his  books 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  it."  The  whole  thing  is  an  unfounded 
and  slanderous  accusation,  more  disgraceful  to  the  accusers  than 
it  is  injurious  to  the  accused.  Chadwick,  no  doubt,  founds  his 
imputations  against  Wesley  upon  casual  remarks  made  by  men 
like  Dunton ;  but  when  Dunton  and  others  fail  to  adduce  proof, 
it  is  only  fair  to  doubt  their  correctness,  inasmuch  as  they  are 
obviously  animated  by  a  malevolence  which  never  scruples  to  utter 
falsehoods  that  are  likely  to  blacken  the  character  of  the  man  it 
hates. 

So  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  first  thing  Mr  Wesley  pub- 
lished, after  his  removal  to  Epworth,  was  a  "  Sermon  preached 
before  the  Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners."  This  sermon 
was  delivered,  first,  at  St  James's  Church,  Westminster,  Feb.  13, 
1698,  about  twelve  months  after  the  settlement  at  Epworth,  and 
was  afterwards  repeated  at  St  Bride's.  The  text  is,  "  Who  will 
rise  up  for  me  against  evildoers  ?  or  who  will  stand  up  for  me 
against  the  workers  of  iniquity?"  (Psalm  xciv.  16 ;)  and  it  is  a 
curious  fact  that,  sixty-five  years  after,  John  Wesley  preached 
before  the  same  society,  from  the  same  text,  in  West  Street 
Chapel,  Seven  Dials.-j- 

The  Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners  was  first  insti- 
tuted about  the  year  1677,  which  was  just  before  Samuel  Wesley 
became  a  student  in  the  Stepney  Academy.  At  that  time  Dr 
Anthony  Horneck  was  at  the  height  of  his  useful  popularity. 
Horneck  was  educated  first  at  Heidelberg,  under  the  celebrated 
Spurzheim,  and  afterwards  at  Queen's  College,  Oxford.      After 

*  Chadwick's  Life  of  Defoe,  p.  214. 
t  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  vi.,  p.  140. 


214)  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l698. 

exercising  liis  ministry  in  Oxford,  and  at  Donlton,  in  Devonshire, 
he,  in  1671,  became  preacher  at  the  Savoy  in  London.  At  the 
Revolution  he  was  honoured  with  the  appointment  of  chaplain  to 
King  William  and  Queen  Mary,  and  in  1693  became  preben- 
dary of  "Westminster.  He  died  in  1696.  He  was  a  man  of 
extensive  learning ;  particularly  conversant  with  the  Oriental 
languages,  ecclesiastical  history,  controversial  theology,  and  casu- 
istry, and  was  the  author  of  several  pious  and  learned  works. 
Dunton  says  "he  was  a  man  of  so  great  usefulness  that  none  saw 
him  without  reverence,  or  heard  him  without  wonder." 

Another  popular  and  iiseful  preacher,  belonging  to  the  same 
period,  was  Mr  Smithies,  who  was  curate  of  Cripplegate  for 
thirty  years,  and  preached  the  morning  lecture  at  St  Michael's, 
Cornhill,  where  he  was  so  well  beloved  that  he  sought  no  other 
preferment.  The  eccentric  writer  last  quoted  says,  "  His  faith- 
ful and  excellent  preaching  commanded  the  attention  of  men, 
and  his  constancy  in  it  procured  their  love.  He  was  a  most 
humble  and  hearty  Christian,  and  his  practical  books  were  in  great 
esteem." 

A  third  distinguished  man  must  here  be  mentioned — William 
Beveridge.  At  the  university,  Beveridge  so  much  excelled  in  the 
learned  languages,  that,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  wrote  a  Syriac 
grammar,  and  a  treatise  on  the  excellency  and  use  of  the  Oriental 
tongues.  Three  years  after,  in  1661,  he  became  vicar  of  Ealing, 
in  Middlesex,  and  subsequently  he  was  appointed  Eector  of  St 
Peter's,  Cornhill,  Prebend  of  St  Paul's,  &c.  In  1691,  the  see  of 
Bath  and  Wells  was  offered  him,  but  he  declined  accepting  it. 
In  1704,  he  became  Bishop  of  St  Asaph;  and,  in  this  elevated 
station,  prosecuted  with  great  zeal  and  diligence  every  practicable 
measure  for  advancing  the  interests  of  religion.  He  died  in  1708, 
and  left  the  greatest  part  of  his  estate  to  the  societies  for  propa- 
gating the  gospel,  and  for  promoting  Christian  knowledge. 
Beveridge  was  a  voluminous  author ;  and,  as  a  preacher,  was  so 
successful,  especially  at  St  Peter's,  Cornhill,  that  he  was  deno- 
minated "  the  great  reviver  and  restorer  of  primitive  piety." 

The  earnest  preaching  of  these  three  godly  ministers  was  the 
means  of  converting  a  considerable  number  of  young  men  who 
applied  to  them  for  religious  counsel.  Beveridge,  Horneck,  and 
Smithies  advised  them  "  to  meet  together  once  a  week,  and  to  apply 
themselves  to  good  discourse  and  things  wherein  they  might  edify 


AGE  36.]  EPWOETH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  215 

one  another."  They  acted  upon  this  advice,  and,  at  every  meet- 
ing, made  a  collection  for  the  poor.  By  means  of  the  fund  thus 
provided,  numbers  of  poor  families  were  relieved,  and  some 
were  put  into  a  way  of  trade ;  sundry  prisoners  were  set  at 
liberty  by  the  payment  of  their  debts,  several  orphans  were  main- 
tained, and  a  few  poor  scholars  received  assistance  at  the  uni- 
versity.* 

These  converted  young  men  soon  found  the  benefit  of  their 
weekly  conferences  with  each  other.  Each  person  related  his 
religious  experience  to  the  rest,  and  thus  they  became  the  means 
of  building  themselves  up  in  the  faith  of  Christ.  The  reader  will 
at  once  perceive  that  John  Wesley's  United  Societies  of  Methodists, 
with  their  weekly  class  meetings,  instituted  sixty-two  years  after- 
wards, were  almost,  if  not  altogether,  an  exact  revival  of  these 
weekly  meetings,  begun  in  1677. 

For  the  better  management  of  their  charitable  fund,  two  stewards 
were  elected  in  1678.  The  meetings  were  continued  until  the 
accession  of  James  II.  in  1685.  At  this  period,  all  private  meet- 
ings began  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion,  and  the  result  was, 
that  some  of  the  members  of  these  pre-Methodist  societies  ceased 
to  attend  such  weekly  assemblies  for  Christian  fellowship  ;  others 
became  lukewarm  in  religious  matters ;  and  some  became  extra^ 

*  Bishop  Burnet  states  that  there  had  formerly  been  societies  of  this  descrip- 
tion both  among  the  Puritans  and  Dissenters ;  but  the  societies  which  now 
sprung  up  belonged  to  the  Established  Church,  He  adds,  they  were  chiefly  con- 
ducted by  Dr  Beveridge  and  Dr  Horneck.  Some  disliked  them,  and  were  afraid 
they  might  give  birth  to  new  factions ;  but  wiser  and  better  men  thought  it  was 
not  fit  to  check  a  spirit  of  devotion  at  such  a  time.  After  the  Revolution,  these 
societies  became  more  numerous  ;  and,  by  means  of  their  collections,  maintained 
clergymen  to  read  prayers  at  so  many  places,  and  at  so  many  different  hours, 
that  devout  persons  might  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege  of  joining  in  sacred 
worship  at  every  hour  of  the  day.  There  were  constant  sacraments  in  many 
churches  every  Sabbath;  and  there  were  greater  numbers  present  at  both 
prayers  and  sacraments  than  had  been  observed  in  the  memory  of  man.  The 
societies  began  to  inform  the  magistrates  of  swearers,  drunkards,  Sabbath-breakers, 
and  adulterers;  and,  because  of  this,  they  were  called  Societies  of  Reformation. 
Some  of  the  magistrates  encouraged  them,  but  others  treated  them  roughly. 
Some  of  the  societies  set  themselves  to  raise  charity  schools ;  others  printed 
books,  and  distributed  them  over  the  nation ;  and  were,  therefore,  called  societies 
for  propagating  Christian  knowledge.  In  many  places  of  the  nation  the  clergy 
met  together  to  confer  about  matters  of  religion  and  learning.  And,  last  of  all, 
a  corporation  was  created  by  King  William  for  propagating  the  Gospel  among 
infidels,  and  for  settling  schools  in  our  plantations. — Burnet's  History  of  his  oxen 
Time,  1st  edition,  vol.  ii.  p.  318. 


216  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l698. 

vagant  and  vain.  A  few,  however,  continued  faithful,  and  resolved 
to  exert  themselves  to  the  utmost  in  maintaining  and  increasing 
the  purity  and  power  of  religion  in  themselves  and  others.  At 
their  own  expense,  they  set  up  public  prayers,  every  evening  at 
eight  o'clock,  at  St  Clement  Danes,  where  there  was  always  a 
full  congregation.  They  also  instituted,  in  the  same  church,  an 
evening  monthly  lecture,  which  was  preached  by  the  most  eminent 
divines  in  London.  All  this  excited  attention.  The  Papists, 
then  in  power,  regarded  these  young  Christians  with  hatred  and 
anxiety,  and  exei'cised  their  malignant  cunning  to  ensnare  them. 
Just  at  this  juncture,  and  probably  for  political  reasons,  the  name 
of  "  Society  "  was  exchanged  for  that  of  "  Club  ; "  and  instead  of 
the  weekly  meetings  being  held,  as  heretofore,  in  the  house  of  a 
friend,  who  might  be  endangered  by  such  assemblies,  they  were 
held  in  quiet  taverns,  where  the  members  could  have  a  room 
appropriated  to  themselves,  and  where,  under  the  pretext  of  a 
small  expenditure  in  tavern  refreshments,  they  could  safely  recite 
their  religious  experience,  and  confer  on  plans  of  religious  use- 
fulness. 

On  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne,  in  1689, 
religious  secrecy  was  no  longer  needed,  and  the  societies  now  began 
to  extend  the  sphere  of  their  operations.  At  first  their  chief  object, 
in  their  weekly  meetings,  was  to  afford  to  each  other  mutual 
assistance  in  their  Christian  life  ;  but,  now,  they  enacted  a  rule 
that  every  member  should  endeavour  to  add  to  the  society  at  least 
•one  other  member.  This  led  to  an  amazing  increase  of  their 
numbers,  and  the  result  was  that  similar  societies  were  multiplied 
in  all  parts  of  London.*  This  led  some  ill-affected  persons  to 
report  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  that  these  societies  were  en- 
gendering religious  pride,  and  would  issue  in  a  church  schism. 
A  vindication  was  sent  to  the  bishop,  stating  that  the  only  object 
th,e  members  had,  was  to  quicken  each  other's  affections  towards 
spiritual  things,  and  to  assist  each  other  to  live  in  all  respects  as 
Christians.  The  bishop  was  satisfied,  and  said,  "  God  forbid  that 
I  should  be  against  such  excellent  designs  !  " 

The  charge  against  the  societies  of  intepding  to  create  a  schism 

*  For  most  of  these  facts,  aad  for  many  that  follow,  the  writer  is  indebted  to 
"  An  Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Religious  Societies  in  the  City  of 
London,  &c.,  and  of  their  endeavours  for  Reformation  of  Manners,"  by  Josiah 
Woodward,  D.D,     Tlie  sixth  edition,     London,  1741. 


AGE  36.]  EPWORTH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  217 

was  most  unfounded  ;  for  so  far  was  it  from  their  purpose  to  form 
a  sect,  that  they  carefully  guarded  against  the  possibility  of  this, 
by  their  strict  attendance  at  the  monthly  sacrament,  by  the  use 
of  many  of  the  church  prayers  in  their  private  meetings,  by  their 
setting  up  public  prayers  in  many  of  the  city  churches,  and  by 
their  humble  deference  to  their  respective  ministers,  without 
whose  approbation  no  rule,  prayer,  or  practice  was  allowed  among 
them. 

It  is  also  noteworthy  that  great  care  was  exercised  in  admitting 
persons  to  membership  among  them.  It  was  required  that  those 
who  were  desirous  of  joining  the  society  should  furnish  a  testi- 
mony of  their  sense  of  spiritual  things,  and  of  their  sincere  inten- 
tion to  live  a  religious  life;  and  this  testimony  was  often  presented 
in  writing. 

At  length,  these  associated  societies  of  converted  people  took 
another  step,  and  resolved  to  exert  themselves  to  check  the  public 
and  scandalous  sins  which  were  so  rampant  in  the  capital.  At 
first,  they  scarcely  knew  how  to  act ;  but,  just  at  the  time  when 
the  resolution  was  adopted,  four  or  five  gentlemen  of  the  Church 
of  England,  well  acquainted  with  the  law,  formed  a  similar  reso- 
lution, and  determined  to  do  all  they  could,  by  legal  authority,  to 
chastise  and  suppress  the  impudent  vices  and  impieties  so  preva- 
lent among  their  fellow-citizens.  The  first  step  taken  was  to 
make  an  abstract  of  all  the  penal  laws  against  vice  and  profanity^ 
and  to  draw  up  prudential  rules  for  the  legal  conviction  of 
offenders.  The  next  was  to  obtain,  through  Tillotson,  in  1691, 
a  letter  from  Queen  Mary,  requiring  magistrates  to  act  in  such 
matters,  and  to  enforce  the  laws.  The  Lord  Mayor,  the  aldermen, 
and  other  magistrates  of  London  consented ;  and  now  copies  of 
the  abstract  of  penal  laws,  of  the  prudential  rules  that  had  been 
drawn  up,  of  the  queen's  letter,  and  of  the  magistrates'  answer, 
were  sent  all  over  the  kingdom  ;  and  blank  warrants  were 
deposited  in  divers  places  of  the  capital  for  the  convenience 
of  informers. 

The  Athenian  Oracle,  (vol.  iii.,  p.  80,)  tells  us  that  the  good 
and  great  men  of  the  age  prosecuted  the  affair  with  unheard-of 
vigour ;  and  many  persons  of  quality  met  together  to  concert 
measures  to  help  forward  this  crusade  against  the  profanities  of 
the  city.     A  petty  sessions  was  held  once  a-week  in  Bloomsbury 


218  THE  LIF15  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l698. 

Court-house  and  Hick's  Hall  for  the  conviction  of  offenders  ;  and 
another  was  about  to  be  set  up  in  Westminster.*  Fit  persons 
were  appointed  to  districts  all  over  the  city  and  suburbs,  to  take 
informations  and  fill  up  warrants.  The  queen  commanded  mili- 
tary officers  to  put  down  wickedness  and  disorders  among  soldiers. 
To  lessen  and  prevent  debauchery,  the  time  for  holding  Bartholo- 
mew Fair  was  to  be  diminished,  &c. 

All  this  created  great  excitement.  A  lawyer,  in  a  coffee-house, 
publicly  declared  that  the  whole  thing  was  a  trick  of  the  magis- 
trates for  the  purpose  of  getting  fees,  and  that  he  would  give  them 
.£'2000  foT  their  emoluments  during  a  single  year.  This,  says 
the  Athenian  Oracle,  was  a  scandalous  untruth,  for  already  one 
hundred  and  forty  warrants  had  been  granted  for  which  not  one 
farthing  had  been  charged  for  fees ;  and  things  were  being  so 
well  managed,  that,  though  it  was  likely  that  ten  thousand  war- 
rants would  be  granted  during  the  next  twelve  months,  it  would 
not  be  in  the  power  of  the  officers  levying  the  penalties  to  make 
the  least  profit  by  their  legal  prosecutions. 

This  royal,  and  almost  national  movement,  could  not  have  been 
more  opportune.  The  religious  societies  had  resolved  to  make  an 
attempt  to  suppress  and  to  punish  vice,  but  scarce  knew  how  to 
act ;  just  at  this  juncture  the  steps  were  taken  above  recited,  and 
now  the  way  was  open.  Accordingly,  the  societies  met  together 
and  prepared  for  action,  by  adopting  the  five  following  rules, 
which,  in  the  prosecution  of  their  work,  were  to  be  religiously 
observed  : — 

1.  Christian  poverty  of  spirit,  to  be  cultivated  by  a  deep  sense 
of  their  own  impurity  and  imperfection. 

2.  A  disinterested  mind,  wholly  renouncing  all  carnal  ends. 

3.  Habitual  prayer  to  God,  with  a  courageous  and  unwearied 
pursuit  of  such  things  as  are  agreeable  to  His  will,  and  sub- 
servient to  His  glory. 

4.  Unfeigned  charity  towards  all  men,  especially  to  their 
souls. 

5.  Quiet  resignation  to  the  Providence  of  God  in  all  events. 
The  societies  now  began  their  work,  having  really  become  the 

Society  for  the  Keformation   of   Manners.     One    section  of   the 

members  were  appointed  to  act  in  London,  and  another  section  to 

♦  This  article  was  written  about  16D1,  and  probably  by  Samuel  Wesley, 


AGE  36.]  EPWORTH  AND  CHKISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  219 

act  in  Westminster,  Prompt  information  was  given  to  the  magis- 
trates of  all  the  debaucheries  and  profanities  they  witnessed  ;  and 
not  a  few  were  the  reproaches  and  threats  they  met  with  from 
evil-doers. 

Very  soon  these  converted  people,  belonging  to  the  religious 
societies,  were  joined  by  an  association  of  housekeepers  in  the 
Tower  Hamlets,  who,  for  their  own  protection,  had  banded  them- 
selves together  to  put  an  end  to  the  thieving  and  lewdness  that 
abounded  in  that  neighbourhood.*  The  results  were — several 
Sunday  markets  were  abolished  ;  some  hundreds  of  brothels  were 
shut  up  ;  music  halls,  which  had  degenerated  into  nurseries  of 
licentiousness,  were  closed ;  multitudes  of  swearers,  Sabbath- 
breakers,  and  drunkards,  were  legally  convicted  ;  and  above  two 
thousand  prostitutes,  night-walkers,  and  keepers  of  houses  of  ill- 
fame,  were  sentenced  by  the  magistrates  as  the  law  directed;  many 
of  them  being  punished  by  fines,  others  by  imprisonment,  others 
by  a  suppression  of  their  licences,  and  not  a  few  by  being  publicly 
whipped  at  the  cart's  tail. 

These  were  bold  steps  to  take,  but  they  were  not  unneeded. 
Daniel  Defoe,  writing  at  that  period,  has  drawn  a  terrific  picture 
of  the  age.  The  following  are  lines  taken  at  random  from  his 
poems.     There  are  others  far  too  vivid  to  be  reprinted : — 

"K 's  a  Dissenter,  and  severe  of  life, 

Instructs  bis  household  and  corrects  his  wife  ; 

Lectures  and  sermons  he  attends  by  day, 

But  yet  comes  home  at  night  too  drunk  to  pray. 


*  We  have  before  us  a  pamphlet  with  the  following  title  : — "Proposals  for  a 
National  Reformation  of  Manners,  Humbly  Ofifered  to  the  Consideration  of  our 
Magistrates  and  Clergy.  Published  by  the  Society  for  Reformation.  London  ; 
Printed  for  John  Dunton,  1694."  In  the  preface  it  is  stated,  that  "  Atheism  and 
profaneness  never  got  such  an  ascendancy  as  at  this  day,  A  thick  gloomi- 
ness hath  overspread  our  horizon,  and  our  light  looks  like  the  evening  of  the 
world."  After  dwelling  on  the  sins  of  the  nation,  it  is  recommended — 1.  "That 
there  be  a  solemn  fast,  without  any  appearance  of  ornament  among  us,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest."  2.  "  That  care  be  taken  to  estabiish  justice  and  judg- 
ment unto  the  poor  and  needy,  the  destitute,  and  the  oppressed."  3.  "That 
there  be  a  yearly  allowance  for  defraying  the  necessary  expenses  of  carrying  on 
this  work  of  Reformation  of  Manners."  4.  "  That  the  King  and  Queen  be  suppli- 
cated to  suppress  play-houses."  5.  "  That  great  care  be  taken  to  put  a  difference 
between  the  clean  and  unclean  in  the  visible  Church,  and  not  to  admit  all  sorts 
of  loose  professors  to  the  Holy  Communion." 


220  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l698. 

"  The  country  Justice  may  disturb  the  peace  ; 
The  clergy  drink  and  whore  ;  the  gospel  cease ; 
The  doctors  cavil,  and  the  priests  contend, 
And  Convocation  quarrels  see  no  end. 

"  Superior  lewdness  crowns  thy  magistrates, 
And  vice,  grown  gray,  usurps  thy  reverend  seats  ; 
Eternal  blasphemies  and  oaths  abound. 
And  bribes  among  thy  senators  are  found." 

Woodward  tells  us  that,  in  the  music  halls,  it  was  not  unusual 
for  persons  of  both  sexes  to  dance  together  in  shameless  naked- 
ness ;  and  that,  within  a  brief  period,  there  had  been  above  twenty 
murders  committed  in  these  licentious  concOTt  rooms. 

Samuel  Wesley's  description  of  the  morals  of  the  city  and  of 
the  nation  is  appalling.  In  the  sermon  which  he  preached  before 
the  Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners,  in  1698,  he  writes  : 
— "Our  infamous  theatres  seem  to  have  done  more  mischief  to 
the  faith  and  morals  of  the  nation  than  Hobbes  himself  With 
as  much  reason  may  we  exclaim  against  our  plays  and  interludes 
as  did  the  old  zealous  fathers  against  the  pagan  spectacles,  and  as 
justly  rank  these,  as  they  did  the  others,  among  those  pomps  and 
vanities  which  our  baptism  obliges  us  to  renounce  and  to  abhor. 
What  communion  hath  the  temple  of  God  with  idols  ? — with  those 
abominable  mysteries  of  iniquity,  which  outdo  the  old  Pescenina 
of  the  heathen,  the  lewd  orgies  of  Bacchus,  and  the  impious  feasts 
of  Isis  and  Priapus  ?  I  know  not  how  any  person  can  profitably, 
or  indeed  decently,  present  themselves  here  before  God's  holy 
oracle,  who  frequent  those  schools  of  vice,  and  mysteries  of  pro- 
faneness  and  lewdness,  to  unlearn  there  what  they  are  taught  here 
out  of  God's  Holy  Word.  It  is  true  the  stage  pretends  to  reform 
manners ;  but  let  them  tell  us  how  many  converts  to  virtue  and 
religion  they  have  made  during  the  last  thirty  or  forty  years. 
We  can  give  numerous  and  sad  instances  to  the  contrary.  A 
brave  and  virtuous  nation  has  been  too  generally  depraved  and 
corrupted,  and  nothing  has  more  highly  conduced  to  this  than 
these  insufferable  and  abominable  representations  at  theatres.  If 
oaths ;  if  blasphemy ;  if  perpetual  profanation  of  the  glorious 
name  of  God  and  of  our  blessed  Redeemer ;  if  making  a  scoff  and 
a  laugh  of  His  Holy  Word  and  institutions;  if  filthiness  and 
foolish  talking,  and  profane  or  immodest  jesting  ;  if  representing, 
excusing,  and  recommending  the  vices  of  mankind ;  if  teaching 


AGE  36.]  EPWORTH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  221 

the  people  to  think  virtue  ridiculous,  and  religion  fit  for  none  but 
old  people,  fools,  and  lunatics  ;  if  contempt  of  superiors ;  if  false 
notions  of  honour ;  if  lewdness,  and  pride,  and  revenge,  and  even 
murder ; — if  these  are  the  lessons  which  are  daily  taught  in  the 
public  play-houses,  to  the  disgrace  of  our  age,  corruption  of  our 
morals,  and  scandal  of  our  nation,  then  we  may  fairly  ask,  Are 
these  fit  places  for  the  education  of  our  youth,  and  the  diversion 
of  those  of  riper  years?  or,  indeed,  are  they  fit  places  to  be 
tolerated  under  a  Christian  government?"* 

Mr  Wesley  continues  : — "  Alas  !  what  reason  has  every  one,  who 
has  any  real  concern  for  God  and  for  his  country,  to  cry  out  with 
the  father  of  old,  '  To  what  dregs  of  time  are  we  reserved  !'  Men 
may  almost  print  or  speak  what  blasphemies  they  please  with 
impunity,  and  even  with  triumph.  Too  many  of  the  subordinate 
magistrates  will  not  act,  nor  the  people  generally  assist  them  in 
the  punishment  of  evil-doers.  It  is  reckoned  a  part  of  good  breed- 
ing, or  at  least  an  argument  of  wit  and  spirit,  to  ridicule  all  that 
is  sacred,  and  to  profane  the  glorious  and  fearful  name  of  God ; 
and  it  is  regarded  as  the  rudest  and  the  most  clownish  thing  in 
the  world  to  reprove,  to  detect,  and  punish  such  offenders,  though 
by  the  most  legal,  prudent,  and  advisable  methods," 

The  Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners  was  of  great 
service,  but  it  was  not  perfect.  Defoe,  in  his  "  Poor  Man's 
Plea,"  alleges  that  the  laws  against  vicious  practices  were  cobweb 
laws,  which  caught  small  flies,  but  which  the  great  ones  broke 
through.  The  Lord  Mayor  whipt  about  the  poor  beggars  and 
a  few  bad  women,  and  sent  them  to  the  House  of  Correction ;  and 
some  alehouse-keepers  and  vintners  were  fined  for  drawing  drink 
on  Sundays  ;  but  the  man,  with  a  gold  ring  and  gay  clothes,  might 
reel  through  the  open  streets,  and  no  one  noticed  it.  The  lewd- 
ness, profaneness,  and  immorality  of  the  gentry,  which  was  the 
main  cause  of  the  general  debauchery  of  the  kingdom,  were  not 
at  all  touched  by  the  laws  as  now  executed. 

These  are  distressing  pictures ;  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  converted  people,  joined  together  in  the  religious  societies  in- 
stituted about  1677,  should  set  themselves  the  task  of  suppressing 
such  impieties,  and  thus  give  birth,  about  the  year  1691,  to  the 
Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners.  To  some  extent,  the 
two  Societies  were  one,  and  yet  they  were  distinct  and  separate. 

*  Meth.  Mag.,  1814,  p.  729. 


222  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l698. 

The  religious  societies  were  instituted  principally  to  promote 
religion  among  themselves  ;  the  Reformation  Society  to  suppress 
public  vice  in  others.  The  religious  societies  were  altogether 
composed  of  members  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  the  Eeformation 
Society  was  composed  of  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
of  other  churches  as  well.* 

After  the  Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners  had  existed 
about  forty  years,  most  of  its  original  members  were  dead,  and  it 
became  defunct,  and,  from  about  1730  to  1757,  no  such  society 
existed.  At  that  time,  and  perhaps  as  the  result  of  the  Methodist 
societies  being  instituted  in  1739,  the  old  Society  for  Reformation 
of  Manners  was  revived.  The  approbation  of  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
London  and  of  the  Court  of  Aldermen  was  obtained ;  and  thou- 
sands of  books  of  instruction  were  printed,  and  were  sent  to  con- 
stables and  parish  officers  to  remind  them  of  their  duty.  In  the 
beginning  of  1758,  the  laws  against  immorality  were  again  en- 
forced, and  the  sti'eets  and  fields  swept  of  their  notorious  ofienders. 
In  five  years,  about  ten  thousand  persons  were  brought  to  justice, 
principally  for  gambling,  swearing,  Sabbath-breaking,  lewdness, 
and  selling  obscene  prints.f  Who  will  deny  that  John  Wesley 
had  much  to  do  with  the  revival  of  this  society,  as  his  father, 
Samuel  Wesley,  had  to  do  with  its  early  institution.^  The  so- 
ciety, at  the  first,  arose  out  of  the  religious  societies  then  exist- 
ing ;  and  we  are  strongly  of  opinion  that  the  revival  of  the  so- 
ciety, after  it  had  become  defunct,  arose  out  of  the  Methodist 
societies  of  1739,  and  which  bore  an  almost  exact  resemblance 
to  the  religious  societies  of  1 677.  At  all  events,  we  find  John 
Wesley  thoroughly  identifying  himself  with  the  revived  Reforma- 
tion Society  of  1757.  In  1763,  he  preached  before  the  Society  in 
West  Street  Chapel,  Seven  Dials,  taking,  as  already  stated,  the 
very  text  that  his  father  took  sixty 'five  years  before.§  In  1764, 
he  proposed  to  the  London  Leaders  Meeting  that  they  should 

*  Calamy  says  :  "  The  foundation  of  the  Society  for  Reformation  of  Manners 
was  laid  in  1(592;  and  the  Dissenters  were,  from  the  first,  as  ready  to  encourage 
and  assist  in  it  as  any." — Calamy's  Life  and  Times. 

+  See  Wesley's  TForfo,  vol.  vi.  p.  145. 

J  The  person  who  was  the  principal  means  of  resuscitating  the  Society  for  the 
Reformation  of  Manners  was  W.  Welsh ;  but  John  Wesley  was  a  personal  friend 
of  W.  Welsh,  and  probably  gave  him  counsel  and  encouragement. — See  Wesley's 
Journal,  February  2,  1766. 

§  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  140. 


AGE  36.]  EPWORTH  AND  CHKISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  223 

have  a  congregational  collection  to  assist  to  liquidate  the  heavy 
debt  of  the  Society  for  the  Eeformation  of  Manners,  though,  at 
the  very  time,  his  own  society  debt  in  London  was  about  £900.* 
And,  in  1766,  he  dined  with  W.  Welsh,  the  father  of  the  revived 
Society,  and  most  feelingly  laments  that  it  has  a  second  time 
ceased  to  exist.  The  immediate  cause  of  this,  was  an  action  insti- 
tuted against  the  society,  in  the  King's  Bench,  which  issued  in  a 
verdict  with  £300  damages.  This  verdict  was  obtained  by  the 
false  swearing  of  a  wretch  whom  the  society  afterwards  convicted 
of  wilful  perjury.  Still  the  death-blow  to  the  Society  was  struck, 
and  John  Wesley  writes  :  "  They  could  never  recover  the  expense 
of  that  suit.     Lord,  how  long  shall  the  ungodly  triumph  ?"-f- 

Such,  then,  was  the  origin,  the  object,  and  the  history  of  the  society 
before  which  Samuel  Wesley  preached,  in  St  James's  Church,  West- 
minster, in  1698.  He  was  still  a  young  man,  and  the  circumstance 
of  him  being  selected  to  preach,  shows  the  high  estimation  in  which 
he  was  already  held.  The  sermon  is  long,  able,  and  earnest.  "  Dar- 
ing and  open  wickedness,"  he  writes,  "  is  high  treason  against  the 
Majesty  of  heaven ;  and  are  not  all  His  liege  subjects  under  the  deep- 
est obligations  to  oppose  it?  Who  has  courage,  and  constancy, 
and  bravery,  equal  to  so  glorious  an  undertaking  ?  Blessed  be 
God !  we  have  now  the  encouragement  of  superiors.  The  sword 
of  justice  no  longer  lies  rusting  and  idle,  but  is  drawn  and  fur- 
bished for  the  battle,  and  glitters  against  the  enemies  of  God  and 
of  our  country.  Shall  a  wretched  mortal,  a  worm  of  the  same 
dust  with  ourselves,  presume  to  affront  my  Father,  my  Patron, 
my  Friend,  my  Benefactor,  my  Saviour,  and  shall  I  want  courage, 
or  honesty  to  oppose  him,  to  detect  him,  and  to  bring  him  to 
that  shame  and  punishment  he  so  highly  merits  ?  Whom  are  we 
afraid  of,  that  we  forget  the  Lord  our  Maker  ?  Let  all  the  pot- 
sherds of  the  earth  fall  down  together,  and  humble  themselves  be- 
fore the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts,  and  let  Him  alone  be  exalted, 
whose  glory  is  above  the  heavens,  and  who  shakes  the  earth  at 
His  displeasure.  Let  us  often  read  the  lives  of  martyrs.  Here 
were  Christians  indeed, — who  trampled  the  world,  subdued  the 
flesh,  and  conquered  the  devil,  following  the  great  Captain  of  their 
salvation,  as  He  himself  led  the  way,  with  crimson  banners,  and 
garments  rolled  in  blood ;  and  shall  we  pretend  to  follow  them,  as 

*  Wesley's  Journal ,  Nov.  4, 1764. 

+  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  230,  and  vol.  vi.  p.  157. 


224  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l698. 

they  did  Him,  and  yet  be  afraid  of  a  few  hard  words  or  frowns 
from  mistaken  or  evil  men  ?  Oh  pity !  pity !  poor  sinners,  and 
pray  to  God  to  pity  them,  who  want  the  sense  and  grace  to  pity 
themselves ;  but  show  your  pity  to  them,  not  by  a  cruel  fondness, 
but  by  a  kind  and  wholesome  severity.  Why  should  we  suffer 
them  to  tumble  over  a  fatal  precipice,  for  fear  of  disturbing  or 
disobliging  them,  by  pulling  them  back  with  some  haste  and 
violence  ?  Go  on,  then,  in  the  name  of  God.  Eemember  the  eyes 
of  God,  men,  and  angels,  are  upon  you.  Be  sober,  be  vigilant. 
Forbid  none  from  casting  out  devils,  because  he  follows  not  with 
you.  Be  careful  and  humble,  and  all  earth  and  hell  can  never 
hurt  you.  Be  willing,  be  thankful  to  be  accounted  the  filth  and 
ofFscouring  of  the  world ;  the  disturbers  of  the  public  peace,  by 
those  who  themselves  notoriously  break  it.  Think  much  of 
heaven — forget  not  death.  Be  constant  at  sacraments,  and  in 
prayer,  public,  domestic,  and  private.  Neglect  not  to  sing  the 
high  praises  of  God.  Remember  the  poor,  especially  God's  poor. 
Pity  the  afflicted,  especially  our  dear  brethren  who  now  '  suffer 
for  the  Word  of  God  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus.'  Oh  the  peace, 
the  joy,  the  triumph,  the  exultation  of  mind  which  a  good  man 
possesses,  when  he  reflects  on  any  sufferings  he  undergoes  for  the 
cause  of  God,  and  for  the  cause  of  despised  religion  and  virtue  ! 
He  bids  the  world  do  its  worst,  for  he  has  a  -reserve  beyond  it, — 
and  knows  who  will  receive  him  into  everlasting  habitations,  and 
say  unto  him  '  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord  ! '  " 

We  have  thus  attempted  to  give  an  outline  of  the  history  of 
the  Society  for  the  Eeformation  of  Manners;  and  extracts 
from  Samuel  Wesley's  sermon,  preached  before  it  in  1698 ;  but, 
before  the  chapter  closes,  a  few  words  must  be  added  in  reference 
to  the  religious  societies  out  of  which  the  other  society  arose. 

The  religious  societies,  begun  in  1 677,  continued  to  exist  until 
after  John  Wesley  had  instituted  his  Methodist  societies.  Wesley's 
first  society  was  formed  at  Oxford  in  1729,  and  consisted  of 
himself,  his  brother  Charles,  Mr  Morgan,  and  Mr  Kirkham,  who 
spent  some  evenings  every  week,  in  unitedly  reading  the  Greek 
Testament.*  The  second  was  formed  at  Savannah  in  1736,  where 
he  met  a  select  few  in  his  own  house  after  evening  prayers,  and 
read  and  conversed  with  them,  and  concluded  the  meetings  with 

*  AA^'esley's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p^  334. 


AGE  3C.]  EPWOETH  AND  CHEISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  225 

a  psalm.*  On  his  return  to  England,  we  find  him  attending  the 
meetings  of  the  old  religious  societies  which  were  still  existing. 
On  Sunday,  April  26,  1?88,  he  "went  to  a  society  in  Oxford, 
where,  as  his  manner  then  was  at  all  societies,  after  using  a  col- 
lect or  two  and  the  Lord's  prayer,  he  expounded  a  chapter  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  concluded  with  three  or  four  more  collects 
and  a  psalm."  -f-  In  September  of  the  same  year,  we  find  him 
attending  and  taking  part  in  society  meetings  in  Bear  Yard,  in 
Aldersgate  Street,  and  in  Gutter  Lane,  London.  \  On  the  loth  of 
November  following,  he  expounded  at  three  societies  in  Bristol.§ 
In  April  1739,  in  Bristol,  he  began  "  expounding  our  Lord's  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  to  a  little  society,  which  was  accustomed  to 
meet  once  or  twice  a  week  in  Nicholas  Street ; "  ||  and  later  on, 
in  the  same  month,  and  in  the  same  city,  while  "  at  a  little  society 
in  the  Back  Lane,  the  floor  of  the  room  gave  way,  and  fell  down 
with  a  great  noise."  IF  In  June  1739,  he  "went  to  a  society  at 
Wapping,  where  many  began  to  call  upon  God  with  strong  cries 
and  tears."**  On  September  9th,  he  "  went  to  a  society  at  Fetter 
Lane,  and  exhorted  them  to  love  one  another ; "  -j"!*  and  two  or 
three  weeks  afterwards  "  went  as  usual  to  the  society  at  St 
James's  ; "  and  also  to  a  society  at  Deptford.|:J:  In  April,  1740, 
we  find  him  at  "  a  little  society  at  Islington,  which  had  stood  un^ 
tainted  from  the  beginning  ; "  §§  and  in  the  month  of  May  follow- 
ing, he  met  with  the  "  members  of  a  religious  society  at  New- 
castle-on-Tyne,  which  had  subsisted  for  many  years,  had  a  fine 
library,  and  to  whom  their  steward  read  a  sermon  every  Sunday ,"||[| 
All  this  affords  ample  proof  that  the  old  religious  societies,  be- 
gun in  1677,  still  existed ;  and  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  it 
was  a  knowledge  of  their  usefulness  that  led  John  Wesley  to  in- 
stitute his  united  societies  in  1739.  He  tells  us  that,  about  that 
time,  persons  who  had  been  awakened  to  a  sense  of  their  sin  and 
danger,  by  the  preaching  of  himself  and  his  brother  Charles,  came 
to  them  for  religious  counsel  and  consolation.  He  writes  : — "  We 
advised  them  :  '  Strengthen  you  one  another — talk  together  as  often 
as  you  can,  and  pray  earnestly  with  and  for  one  another,  that  you 
may  endure  to  the  end,  and  be  saved.'     They  replied,  'But  we 

*  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  40.  t  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  84. 

X  Ibid.,  p.  149.  §  Ibid,  p.  153.  II  Ibid.,  p.  174. 

H  Ibid.,  p.  176.  **  Ibid.,  p.  192.  tt  Ibid.,  p.  211. 

XX  Ibid.,  p.  214.  §§  Ibid.,  p.  254.  Illl  lUd.,  p.  351. 

P 


226  THE  LIFE  AND  TIIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  "[lC99. 

want  you  likewise  to  talk  with  us.'  So  I  told  them,  *  If  you  will 
all  of  you  come  together  every  Thursday  evening,  I  will  gladly 
spend  some  time  with  you  in  prayer,  and  give  you  the  best  advice 
I  can.'  Thus,"  he  adds,  "  arose  what  was  afterwards  called  a 
society ;  a  very  innocent  name,  and  very  common  in  London,  for 
any  number  of  people  associating  themselves  together.  They 
united  themselves  in  order  to  pray  together,  to  receive  the  word 
of  exhortation,  and  to  watch  over  one  another  in  love,  that  they 
might  help  each  other  to  work  out  their  salvation."*  A  few  days 
after  this  society  was  formed,  some  of  the  members  expressed  a 
determination  to  make  a  quarterly  subscription  to  assist  AVesley 
to  pay  for  the  lease  of  the  Foundry,  and  a  steward  was  appointed 
to  receive  the  money  ;  -f-  and  very  soon  after  that,  the  society  was 
divided  into  smaller  companies  called  "classes,"  consisting  of 
about  twelve  persons  each,  and  one  of  whom  was  styled  "  the 
leader."  % 

Such  is  John  Wesley's  own  account  of  fhe  rise  of  his  "  United 
Societies."  In  all  this,  we  see  an  exact  repetition  of  what  was 
done  by  Beveridge,  Horneck,  and  Smithies  sixty-two  years  before. 
The  religious  societies  instituted  by  them  were  the  pioneers  of 
the  Methodist  societies,  and  prepared  their  way.  Their  origin 
and  number  indicate  the  existence  of  a  large  amount  of  experi- 
mental and  earnest  piety,  even  in  the  midst  of  abounding  wicked- 
ness. They  were  immensely  useful,  and  were  the  means  of 
conferring  great  benefits  both  upon  the  members  themselves 
and  upon  others.  They  were  instrumental  in  beginning  and 
establishing  about  one  hundred  schools  in  London  and  its  sub- 
urbs, in  which  thousands  of  poor  children  were  taught  gratui- 
tously, and  were  carefully  educated  in  good  manners.  Their 
rules  required,  that  every  member  should  be  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  England  ;  that  the  members  should  meet  together  once 
a  week  to  encourage  each  other  in  practical  holiness  ;  that  all  con- 
troversial and  political  discussions  should  be  avoided  at  their 
meetings ;  that  every  member  should  give  a  weekly  contribution 
towards  the  public  stock  for  pious  and  charitable  uses  ;  that  every 
one  absenting  himself  from  four  meetings  in  succession,  without 
just  cause,  should  be  looked  upon  as  disaffected  to  the  society ; 
that  none  should    be    admitted  as  new  members  without  due 

•  Wesley's  Worhs,  vol.  viii.  p.  240.  t  J^id.  p.,  299. 

:5:  Ibid.,  p.  269. 


AGE  37.]  EPWORTH  AND  CHEISTIAN  SOCIETIES.  227 

notice,  and  without  inquiry  concerning  their  religious  purposes 
and  manner  of  life ;  and  that  all  the  members  should  pray  many 
times  every  day,  receive  the  Lord's  Supper  at  least  once  a  month, 
keep  a  monthly  fast,  and  pray  for  the  whole  society  in  their  private 
devotions. 

We  have  seen  John  Wesley's  connexion  with  these  societies. 
What  about  his  father  ?  Was  he  acquainted  with  them,  and  did 
he  give  them  his  approbation  and  sympathy  ?  Happily  these  are 
questions  which  can  be  answered.  "  A  Letter  concerning  the 
Religious  Societies,"  was  published  by  Samuel  Wesley  in  1699. 
After  giving  a  description  of  the  societies,  Mr  Wesley  proceeds 
to  argue  that,  so  far  from  being  any  injury  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, they  would  greatly  promote  its  interests.  He  expresses  a 
wish  that  such  societies  might  be  formed  in  all  considerable  towns, 
and  even  in  populous  villages.  He  writes — "  There  are  a  great 
many  parishes  in  this  kingdom  which  consist  of  several  thousands 
of  souls.  Now  what  one  man,  or  two,  or  three,  is  sufficient  for 
such  a  multitude  ?  Those  who  have  but  one  or  two  thousand 
will  find  their  cares  heavy  enough,  especially  now  they  have  neither 
the  catechists  of  the  ancients  to  assist  them,  nor  those  clerks 
which  are  mentioned  in  the  rubric."  He  then  goes  on  to  state, 
that,  in  such  cases,  the  religious  societies  would  be  of  immense 
service.  Acting  under  the  authority  and  direction  of  the  clergy, 
"  they  would  be  as  so  many  churchwardens,  or  overseers,  or  almost 
deacons  under  them;  caring  for  the  sick  and  poor,  giving  an 
account  of  the  spiritual  estate  of  themselves  and  others,  persuading 
parents  to  catechise  their  children  and  to  fit  them  for  confirma- 
tion, and  discoursing  with  those  who  have  left  the  church  to  bring 
them  back  to  it.  This  assistance  would  conduce  as  much  to  the 
health  of  the  minister's  body,  by  easing  him  of  many  a  weary  step 
and  fruitless  journey,  as  it  would  conduce  to  the  satisfaction  of  his 
mind,  in  the  visible  success  of  his  labours.  Such  societies,  so  far 
from  injuring  the  Church,  would  be  so  many  new  bulwarks  against 
its  enemies,  and  would  give  it  daily  more  strength,  and  beauty, 
and  reputation." 

He  then  proceeds  to  show  that  the  institution  of  such  societies 
was  not  a  novelty ;  that  the  Church  of  Rome  was  indebted  for 
most  of  the  progress  that  it  had  made  in  recent  times  to  the 
several  societies  it  had  nourished  in  its  bosom  ;  and  that  the  Mar- 
quis de  Renty  in  France  had  formed,   as  early  as  1640,  many 


228  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1699. 

societies  of  devout  persons,  who,  in  their  weekly  meetings,  con- 
sulted about  the  relief  of  the  poor,  engaged  in  united  prayer,  sang 
psalms,  read  books  of  devotion,  and  discoursed  together  of  their 
own  spiritual  concerns. 

Wesley  then  argues  that  such  societies  are  really  necessary,  on 
the  ground,  that,  without  them,  the  members  of  the  Church  have 
no  opportunity  for  that  "  delightful  employment  of  all  good  Chris- 
tians," pious  conversation.  He  concludes  thus  : — "  The  design  of 
these  societies  is  not  to  gather  churches  out  of  churches,  to 
foment  new  schisms  and  divisions,  and  to  make  heathens  of  all 
the  rest  of  their  Christian  brethren  ;  but  to  promote,  in  a  regular 
manner,  that  which  is  the  end  of  every  Christian,  the  glory  of 
God,  included  in  the  welfare  and  salvation  of  themselves  and  their 
neighbours.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  there  may  and  will  be  some 
persons  in  these  societies  of  more  heat  than  light,  of  more  zeal  than 
judgment ;  but  where  was  ever  any  body  of  men  without  some 
such  characters  ?  But  since  the  very  rules  of  their  institution  do 
strictly  oblige  them  to  the  practice  of  humility  and  charity,  and 
to  avoid  censoriousness  and  spiritual  pride,  the  common  rocks  of 
those  who  make  a  more  than  ordinary  profession  of  religion,  I 
see  not  what  human  prudence  can  provide  any  farther  in  this 
matter." 

These  extracts  are  important,  inasmuch  as  they  afford  ample 
evidence  that  Samuel  Wesley  (the  High  Churchman,  as  Mr  Wat- 
son and  others  erroneously  call  him)  was  as  much  in  favour  of 
Christian  fellowship,  such  as  Methodists  now  hold  in  classes,  as 
was  the  founder  of  the  Methodists  himself ;  and  they  also  further 
prove  that,  when  John  Wesley  employed  lay  agents  to  assist  him- 
self and  his  brother,  and  to  promote  the  glory  of  God  in  the  sal- 
vation of  men,  he  did  nothing  more  than  what  had  been  earnestly 
advocated  and  recommended  by  his  father  nearly  half  a  century 
before.  In  employing  lay-agents,  John  Wesley  was  a-head  of  his 
age ;  but  he  only  did  what  his  father  had  urged  to  be  done  in 
1699,  and  what  the  Church  of  England  itself,  at  this  present 
moment,  is  wishing  to  have  accomplished — viz.,  the  employment 
of  a  Sub-Diaconate  to  co-operate  witli  the  regular  ministry. 


CHAPTER  Xir. 

DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE — 1700-1704. 

When  Mr  Wesley  removed  to  Epworth  he  turned  farmer,  and 
took  the  management  of  his  tithes  into  his  own  hands.  The  rec- 
tor's domestic  necessities  were  increasing  every  year,  and  it  was 
natural  that  he  should  wish  to  make  his  glebe  as  profitable  as  he 
could.  To  commence  farming,  however,  was  a  serious  mistake, 
First  of  all,  Mr  Wesley  was  without  capital  to  begin  ;  and  to 
attempt  to  farm  without  capital,  or  to  borrow  capital  and  pay  large 
interest  for  it,  is  not  the  way  for  a  poor  man's  prospects  to  be 
made  better ;  and  then,  in  the  second  place,  the  great  and  the 
good-hearted  rector,  notwithstanding  his  genius,  his  learning, 
and  his  diligence,  seems  to  have  had  no  aptitude  for  business. 
"  He  is  not  fit  for  worldly  business,"  wrote  his  brother-in-law^- 
Samuel  Annesley,  who  had  employed  him  to  transact  some  of 
his  affairs  in  England,  whilst  he  was  absent  in  India ;  to  which 
his  wife,  Susannah  Wesley,  answered : — "  This  I  assent  to,  and 
must  own  I  was  mistaken  when  I  thought  him  fit  for  business. 
My  own  experience  hath  since  convinced  me  that  he  is  one  of 
those  who,  our  Saviour  saith,  are  not  so  wise  in  their  generation 
as  the  children  of  this  world." 

The  good  man  had  no  knowledge  of  the  farming  business ;  lie 
had  no  money  to  begin  it ;  and,  to  say  the  least,  his  ardent  love 
of  books,  and  his  long-established  literary  habits,  were  not  friendly 
to  it.  It  was  a  great  mistake  for  the  learned  and  studious  rector 
to  turn  farmer,  and  no  wonder  that  such  a  step  led  to  debt  and 
serious  embarrassment.  Perhaps  this  is  the  most  fitting  place  to 
introduce  the  letters  following,  all  of  which  were  written  to  Arch- 
bishop Sharpe  : — 

Epworth,  Dec.  30,  1700. 

"  My  Lord, — I  have  lived  on  the  thought  of  your  Grace's  gener- 


230  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1700. 

ous  offer  ever  since  I  was  at  Bishopthorpe,  and  the  Lope  I  have 
of  seemg  some  end,  or  at  least  mitigation,  of  my  troubles,  makes 
me  pass  through  them  with  much  more  ease  than  I  should  other- 
wise have  done.  I  can  now  make  a  shift  to  be  dunned,  with  some 
patience ;  and  to  be  affronted,  because  I  want  the  virtue  of  riches, 
by  those  who  scarce  think  there  is  any  other  virtue. 

"  I  must  own,  I  was  ashamed,  when  at  Bishopthorpe,  to  confess 
that  I  was  £300  in  debt,  when  I  have  a  living  of  which  I  have 
made  £200  per  annum,  though  I  could  hardly  let  it  now  for 
eightscore. 

"  I  doubt  not  but  one  reason  of  my  being  sunk  so  far  is  my  not 
understanding  worldly  affairs,  and  my  aversion  to  law,  which  my 
people  have  always  known  but  too  well.  But,  I  think,  I  can  give 
a  tolerable  account  of  my  affairs,  and  satisfy  any  equal  judge  that 
a  better  husband  than  myself  might  have  been  in  debt,  though 
perhaps  not  so  deeply,  had  he  been  in  the  same  circumstances, 
and  met  with  the  same  misfortunes. 

"  'Twill  be  no  great  wonder  that,  when  I  had  but  £50  per  an- 
num for  six  or  seven  years  together,  nothing  to  begin  the  world 
with,  one  child  at  least  per  annum,  and  my  wife  sick  for  half  that 
time,  that  I  should  run  £150  behindhand,  especially  when  about 
£100  of  it  had  been  expended  in  goods,  without  doors  and  within- 

"  When  I  had  the  rectory  of  Epworth  given  me,  my  Lord  of 
Sarum  was  so  generous  as  to  pass  his  word  to  his  goldsmith*  for 
£100,  which  I  borrowed  of  him.  It  cost  me  very  little  less  than 
£50  of  this  in  my  journey  to  London,  and  in  getting  into  my 
living,  for  the  Broad  Seal,  &c.  ;  and  with  the  other  £50  I  stopped 
the  mouths  of  my  most  importunate  creditors. 

"  When  I  removed  to  Epworth,  I  was  forced  to  take  up  £50 
more,  for  setting  uj)  a  little  husbandry,  when  I  took  the  tithes  into 
ray  own  hand,  and  for  buying  some  part  of  what  was  necessary 
towards  furnishing  my  house,  which  was  larger,  as  well  as  my 
family,  than  what  I  had  on  the  other  side  of  the  country. 

"  The  next  year  my  barn  fell,  which  cost  me  £40  in  rebuilding, 
(thanks  to  your  Grace  for  part  of  it;)  and,  having  an  aged  mother, 
who  must  have  gone  to  prison  if  I  had  not  assisted  her,  she  cost 
me  upwards  of  £40  more,  which  obliged  me  to  take  up  another 
£50.  I  have  had  but  three  children  born  since  I  came  hither, 
about  three  years  since  ;  but  another  is  coming,  and  my  wife  is 

*  Meaning  his  banker. 


AGE  38.]  DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE.  231 

incapable  of  any  business  in  my  family,  as  she  has  been  for  almost 
a  quarter  of  a  year ;  yet  we  have  but  one  maid-servant,  in  order 
to  retrench  all  possible  expenses. 

"  My  first-fruits  came  to  about  £28  ;  my  tenths  are  near  £3  per 
annum.  I  pay  a  yearly  pension  of  £3,  out  of  my  rectory,  to  John 
of  Jerusalem.  My  taxes  came  to  upwards  of  £20  per  annum, 
but  they  are  now  retrenched  to  about  half.  My  collection  to  the 
poor  comes  to  £5  per  annum ;  besides  which,  they  have  lately 
bestowed  an  apprentice  upon  me,  whom,  I  suppose,  I  must  teach 
to  beat  rhyme.  Ten  pounds  a  year  I  allow  my  mother,  to  help  to 
keep  her  from  starving.  I  wish  I  could  give  as  good  an  account 
for  some  charities,  which  I  am  now  satisfied  have  been  impru- 
dent, considering  my  circumstances. 

"  Fifty  pounds  interest  and  principal  I  have  paid  my  Lord  of 
Sarum's  goldsmith.  All  which  together  keeps  me  necessitous, 
especially  since  interest-money  begins  to  pinch  me  ;  and  I  am 
always  called  upon  for  money  before  I  make  it,  and  must  buy 
everything  at  the  worst  hand  ;  whereas,  could  I  be  so  happy  as  to 
get  on  the  right  side  of  my  income  I  should  not  fear,  by  God's 
help,  to  live  honestly  in  the  world,  and  to  leave  a  little  to  my 
children  after  me.  I  think,  as  it  is,  I  could  perhaps  work  it  out 
in  time,  in  half  a  dozen  or  half  a  score  years,  if  my  heart  should 
hold  so  long ;  but  for  that,  God's  will  be  done. 

"  Humbly  asking  pardon  for  this  tedious  trouble,  I  am,  youi' 
Grace's  most  obliged  and  most  humble  servant, 

"  S.  Wesley." 

This  is  a  painfully  interesting  letter.  A  few  explanations  may 
be  acceptable.  He  had  been  put  to  considerable  expense  "for  the 
Broad  Seal,"  the  meaning  of  which  is,  that,  as  the  Epworth  living 
belonged  to  the  Crown,  his  title  to  the  gift  of  it  required  the 
affixing  of  the  "  Broad  Seal,"  for  which,  of  course,  he  had  to  pay 
the  official  fees.  Then,  he  had  to  pay  £28  for  "  first-fruits  ;"  £3 
for  "tenths,"  and  other  £3  to  "John  of  Jerusalem."  The  "first- 
fruits"  were  a  sort  of  fine  levied  on  a  clergyman's  first  year's  in- 
come, when  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  promoted,  the  money 
being  paid  to  the  Government.  The  "  tenths"  were  a  tax  paid  to  the 
Crown  every  year.  The  £3  paid  to  John  of  Jerusalem  was  an  im- 
post of  the  same  description.  Down  to  a  certain  period,  a  number 
of  churches  in  England  were  obliged  to  pay  toll  to  the  Priory  of  St 


232  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l700. 

John  of  Jerusalem  ;  but,  at  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries, 
all  the  emoluments  of  this  priory  were  given  to  the  king,  and,  as 
the  rectory  of  Epworth  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  to  the  value 
of  £3  per  annum  to  that  house,  this  was  the  sum  which  the  kings 
of  England  continued  to  receive  from  Epworth  rectory. 

He  had  been  obliged  to  take  a  parish  apprentice.  At  that 
period,  and  for  a  long  time  after,  it  was  customary  for  parochial 
officers  to  relieve  themselves,  of  the  burden  of  maintaining  the 
children  of  their  paupers,  by  compelling  the  parishioners,  in 
rotation,  to  take  such  childen  as  apprentices,  and  to  teach  them 
their  respective  trades.  One  of  these  youngsters  had  been 
forced  upon  the  poor  rector,  and,  as  he  had  no  trade  to  teacli 
him,  he  playfully  proposes  to  instruct  him  in  the  unprofitable 
business  of  making  poetry,  to  which  he  himself  had  been  so  long 
addicted. 

His  aged  mother  was  still  living,  but  was  crushed  with  poverty, 
and  had  been  in  danger  of  imprisonment  for  debt.  Eor  about 
thirty  years  she  had  been  a  lonely  widow,  and  seems  to  have  been 
dependent  upon  her  son  Samuel's  £10  per  annum  for  her  daily 
bread.  The  question  naturally  occurs.  Was  the  poor  rector  the 
only  one  willing  to  assist  his  mother  ?  Was  nothing  done  for  her 
by  her  son  Matthew  ?  Matthew  rose  to  considerable  eminence  in 
the  medical  profession,  and  had  an  extensive  and  profitable  practice 
in  London.  Thirty  years  after  the  period  of  which  we  are  now 
writing,  when  he  visited  the  Epwoith  family,  he  is  represented  as 
a  man  of  wealth,  and  yet  where  is  the  evidence  that  he  helped  to 
support  his  mother  ?  Matthew  Wesley  is  described  by  his  niece 
Mehetabel  as  one  of  the  gentlest  of  human  beings,  and  as  rescuing 
thousands  from  the  grave  by  his  healing  skill.  He  was  of  sufficient 
eminence  to  have  his  death  celebrated  in  the  poetical  department 
of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1737  ;  but,  excepting  a  little 
kindness  shown  to  one  or  two  of  his  brother's  children,  we  are  left 
without  evidence  that  he  possessed  any  of  that  nobility  of  heart, 
which  prompted  the  embarrassed  rector  to  squeeze  out  of  his 
scanty  income  the  pittance  which  he  yearly  gave  to  his  much- 
loved  mother. 

Samuel  Wesley's  attachment  to  the  Established  Church  was  con- 
scientious and  strong;  otherwise  there  was  enough  in  his  mother's 
history  to  have  made  him  its  enemy  for  ever.  By  the  relentless 
and  intolerant  bigotry  of  that  Church,  her  husband  had  been  de- 


AGE  38.]  DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE.  233 

prived  of  the  means  of  sustaining  his  family,  and  had  been  perse- 
cuted and  driven  from  place  to  place,  and  not  allowed  the  oppor- 
tunity of  providing  for  either  his  wife  or  his  children.  By  the 
same  Church's  intolerance,  he  had  been  brought  to  an  untimely 
grave ;  and  his  widow,  for  long,  long  years,  had  been  struggling 
with  abject  poverty.  Her  son  Samuel  knew  all  this  ;  and  yet,  not- 
withstanding his  having  been  trained  for  the  Dissenting  ministry, 
he  entered  the  very  Church  which  had  inflicted  so  much  misery  upon 
his  father,  and  which,  to  the  day  of  her  death,  made  Dr  Thomas 
Fuller^'s  niece,  Samuel  Wesley's  mother,  a  needy  object  of  charity 
and  alms.  Nothing  but  conscientious  conviction  of  duty,  could 
have  induced  such  a  man  to  attach  himself  to  such  a  Church. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  most  distressingly  embarrassed ;  but  his 
embarrassments  were  not  the  results  of  wasteful  or  extravagant 
living.  For  about  eleven  years  he  had  been  a  married  minister  of 
the  Church  of  England,  His  professional  income,  for  that  entire 
period — after  deducting  the  payments  mentioned  in  the  foregoing 
letter,  for  furniture,  the  Broad  Seal,  his  first-fruits,  his  tenths  and 
other  taxes,  the  poor,  his  mother's  debt,  and  also  including  the 
£50  borrowed  for  farming  purposes — did  not  amount  to  more  than 
£600,  which  gives  an  average  of  £54,  1  Os.  a-year,  or  twenty  shil- 
lings and  ninepence  per  week.  Out  of  that  amount  of  money,  he 
had  to  maintain  house,  to  find  food  and  clothes  for  himself  and  for 
his  wife  ;  he  had  to  meet  the  expenses  connected  with  the  birth 
of  ten  children,  and  the  burial  of  five  ;  and  he  had  now  a  family 
to  support,  consisting  of  himself,  his  wife,  five  children,  a  maid- 
servant, and  a  parish  apprentice — nine  persons  altogether.  Samuel 
Wesley,  after  eleven  years  of  hard  struggling,  was  £300  in  debt. 
No  wonder !  Let  the  reader  look  at  the  preceding  figures  and 
facts,  and  his  surprise  will  be,  not  that  the  debt  was  so  great,  but 
that  it  was  not  greater.  Many  Methodists  have  a  vague  idea  that 
the  rector  of  Epworth  was  careless  and  improvident  in  the  man- 
agement of  his  pecuniary  matters,  and  that  this  was  the  cause 
of  his  embarrassments  ;  but  to  entertain  such  a  thought  is  a  cruel 
injustice  done  to  the  character  of  that  distinguished  man,  and  also 
an  undeserved  stigma  cast  upon  the  reputation  of  his  invaluable 
wife.  Let  any  one  think  of  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land having  to  maintain  a  large,  and  often  an  afflicted  family, 
for  eleven  years,  at  the  rate  of  two  shillings  and  elevenpence- 
halfpenny  per  day,  and  we  challenge  him  to  deny  that  Samuel 


23-t  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l701. 

Wesley,  now  £300  in  debt,  was  deserving,  not  of  censure,  but  of 
sympathy. 

Archbishop  Sharpe,  to  whom  Wesley's  letter  was  addressed, 
was  an  exceedingly  kind  and  faithful  friend.  He  submitted  the 
painful  circumstances  of  the  poor  rector  to  a  number  of  his  noble 
friends,  some  of  whom  generously  responded,  the  Countess  of 
Northampton  sending  him  £20.  The  archbishop  also  wished  to 
make  an  application  to  the  House  of  Lords  for  what  was  techni- 
cally called  a  "Brief;"  in  other  words,  a  "letter  patent,  grant- 
ing a  licence  for  collecting  money  to  rebuild  churches,  to  restore 
loss  by  fire,"  &c.  These  "  briefs,"  or  letters  patent  were  read  in 
churches,  and  the  sums  collected  were  endorsed  on  them,  with 
the  signatures  of  the  minister  and  churchwarden  ;  after  which  the 
briefs  and  the  money  collected  were  delivered  to  the  person  or 
persons  obtaining  the  briefs,  wiio  in  their  turn  had  to  give  an 
account,  within  two  months,  of  the  moneys  received,  before  a 
master  in  Chancery  appointed  by  the  Lord  Chancellor. 

The  proposal,  then,  of  the  Archbishop  of  York  was,  to  obtain 
from  Parliament  one  of  these  letters  patent,  authorising  and  com- 
manding collections  to  be  made  in  certain  churches,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  relieving  the  distresses  of  the  rector  of  Epworth.  The 
feeling  which  prompted  this  was  unquestionably  kind,  but  per- 
haps it  was  scarce  considerate.  To  a  high-minded  and  sensitive 
man  like  Samuel  Wesley,  it  could  not  be  otherwise  than  dis- 
agreeable to  have  his  domestic  troubles  and  financial  embarrass- 
ments paraded,  first  before  Parliament,  and  afterwards  in  parish 
churches,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  collections  to  pay  some 
£300  of  debt,  and  perhaps  to  furnish  a  trifling  surplus  to  repair 
Epworth  parsonage,  and  to  improve  Epworth  parish  church.  At 
the  present  day,  such  a  mode  of  raising  money  for  such  purposes 
would  be  universally  denounced  ;  and  in  the  case  of  Samuel 
Wesley,  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  years  ago,  such  a  plan  ought 
never  to  have  been  propounded.  It  was  doubtless  a  duty  to 
assist  the  impoverished  parson,  but  the  assistance  ought  to  have 
been,  not  public,  but  private.  Dr  Clarke  asserts  that  the  arch- 
bishop actually  applied  to  the  Upper  House  of  Parliament  for  such 
a  brief.  Be  that  as  it  may,  we  find  Samuel  Wesley  disapproving 
of  the  proposal  in  the  following  letter,  which  was  written  four 
months  and  a  half  after  his  former  one  : — 


AGE  39.]  DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE.  '  235 

"  Epwobth,  Maij  14,  1701. 

"  My  Loed, — In  the  first  place,  I  do,  as  I  am  bound,  heartily 
thank  God  for  raising  me  so  great  and  generous  a  benefactor  as 
your  Grace,  when  I  so  little  expected  or  deserved  it. 

"  And  then,  to  return  my  poor  thanks  to  your  lordship,  though 
but  a  sorry  acknowledgment,  yet  all  I  have,  for  the  pains  and 
trouble  you  have  taken  on  my  account.  I  most  humbly  thank 
your  Grace  that  you  did  not  close  with  the  motion  which  you 
mentioned  in  your  Grace's  first  letter  ;  for  I  should  rather  chose 
to  remain  all  my  life  in  my  present  circumstances,  than  so  much 
as  consent  that  your  lordship  should  do  any  such  thing.  Nor, 
indeed,  should  I  be  willing  on  my  own  account  to  trouble  the 
House  of  Lords  in  the  method  proposed,  for  I  believe  mine  would 
be  the  first  instance  of  a  brief  for  losses  by  child-bearing  that 
ever  came  before  that  honourable  house. 

"  Had  your  Grace  been  able  to  have  effected  nothing  for  me,  the 
generosity  and  goodness  had  been  the  same  ;  and  I  should  have 
prayed  for  as  great  a  heap  of  blessings  on  your  Grace  and  your 
family.  This  is  all  I  can  do  now,  when  I  have  such  considerable 
assistance  by  your  Grace's  charitable  endeavours.  When  I  re- 
ceived your  Grace's  first  letter,  I  thanked  God  upon  my  knees  for 
it.  I  have  done  the  same,  I  believe,  twenty  times  since,  as  often 
as  I  have  read  it  ;  and  more  than  once  for  the  other,  which  I  re- 
ceived but  yesterday. 

"  Certainly,  never  did  an  archbishop  of  England  write  in  such  a 
manner  to  an  isle  poet ;  but  it  is  peculiar  to  your  Grace  to  oblige 
so  as  none  besides  can  do  it.  I  know  your  Grace  will  be  angry, 
but  I  cannot  help  it ;  truth  will  out,  though  in  a  plain  and  rough 
dress ;  and  I  should  sin  against  God  if  I  now  neglected  to  make 
all  the  poor  acknowledgments  I  am  able." 

He  then  proceeds  to  mention  the  great  kindness  of  the  Coun- 
tess of  Northampton,  and  says  he  must  divide  what  she  has  given 
him, — "  half  to  my  poor  mother,  with  whom  I  am  now  above  a 
year  behindhand ;  the  other  £10  for  my  own  family.  My 
mother  will  wait  on  your  Grace  for  her  £10  :  she  knows  not  the 
particulars  of  my  circumstances,  which  I  keep  from  her  as  much 
as  I  can,  that  they  may  not  trouble  her.^' 

Very  beautiful  are  sentiments  like  these  ;  and  great  must  have 
been  the  anguish  of  that  sensitive  and  noble  heart  that  had  to 
struggle  with  such  adversities. 


236  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l701. 

Four  days  after  the  foregoing  letter  was  written,  it  was  followed 
by  another  and  shorter  one,  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  playful- 
ness as  well  as  gratitude  of  the  writer's  nature  : — 


"Epworth,  May  18,  1701. 

"  My  Lord, — This  comes  as  a  rider  to  the  last,  by  the  same 
post,  to  bring  such  news  as,  I  presume,  will  not  be  unwelcome  to  a 
person  who  has  so  particular  a  concern  for  me.  Last  night  my 
wife  brought  me  a  few  children.  There  are  but  Uuo  yet,  a  boy 
and  a  girl,  and  I  think  they  are  all  at  present.  We  have  had 
four  in  two  years  and  a  day,  three  of  which  are  living. 

"  Never  came  anything  more  like  a  gift  from  Heaven  than  what 
the  Countess  of  Northampton  sent  by  your  lordship's  charitable 
offices.  Wednesday  evening  my  wife  and  I  clubbed  and  joined 
stocks,  which  came  but  to  six  shillings,  to  send  for  coals.  Thurs- 
day morning  I  received  the  £10  ;  and  at  night  my  wife  was  deli- 
vered. Glory  be  to  God  for  His  unspeakable  goodness  ! — I  am, 
your  Grace's  most  obliged,  and  most  humble  servant, 

"S.  Wesley." 

Archbishop  Sharpe,  to  whom  these  three  letters  were  addressed, 
was  born  at  Bradford,  Yorkshire,  in  1644.  He  was  educated  at 
Christ  College,  Cambridge,  and  for  five  years  was  private  tutor  to 
the  four  sons  of  Sir  Heneage  Finch,  who  afterwards  became  Lord 
Chancellor.  In  1677,  Sharpe  became  rector  of  St  Giles's,  and 
had  among  his  parishioners  the  celebrated  Eichard  Baxter,  who 
was  a  constant  hearer  of  the  rector  every  Sunday  morning,  and 
was  consulted  about  his  marriage.  These  two  excellent  men,  not- 
withstanding their  minor  differences,  lived  together  on  the  most 
friendly  terms.  In  1681,  Sharpe  was  promoted  to  the  deanery 
of  Norwich.  On  the  accession  of  King  James,  he  preached  so 
much  against  Popery,  that  he  excited  the  royal  displeasure,  was 
obliged  to  leave  St  Giles's,  and  to  reside  altogether  at  his  deanery. 
In  1689,  he  succeeded  Tillotson  as  Dean  of  Canterbury,  and  was 
nominated  one  of  the  commissioners  for  revising  the  liturgy.  In 
1691,  he  was  consecrated  Archbishop  of  York,  and  discharged 
the  duties  of  his  high  office  with  great  fidelity  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  at  Bath  in  1714.  He  preached  repeatedly  before 
King  William  and  Queen  Mary.  Some  of  these  sermons  ars 
now  before  us,  and  display  great  ability  and  earnest  piety.     He 


AGE  39.]  DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE.  237 

delivered  the  sermon  preached  at  the  coronation  of  Queen  Anne. 
His  favourite  studies,  in  his  youthful  days,  were  botany  and 
chemistry.  He  was  chaplain  to  King  Charles  and  to  King  James. 
He  was  greatly  esteemed  by  King  William,  and,  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Anne,  the  greatest  attention  was  always  paid  to  his  advices. 
Dr  Sharpe,  says  Bishop  Burnet,  was  a  very  pious  man,  and  one 
of  the  most  popular  preachers  of  the  age.  Sharpe  left  behind 
him  seven  volumes  of  sermons.*  He  was  the  grandfather  of 
the  celebrated  Granville  Sharpe,  the  distinguished  philanthropist 
and  the  friend  of  slaves.  A  remarkable  anecdote  of  the  arch- 
bishop was  inserted  by  John  Wesley  in  the  Arminian  Magazine 
for  1785. 

In  the  midst  of  all  his  pecuniary  struggles,  Samuel  Wesley  con- 
tinued to  write  and  to  publish  books.  In  1700,  he  issued  a  small 
volume,  entitled  "  The  Pious  Communicant  Rightly  Prepared  ;  or, 
A  Discourse  concerning  the  Blessed  Sacrament :  wherein  the 
nature  of  it  is  described,  our  obligation  to  frequent  communion 
enforced,  and  directions  given  for  due  preparation  for  it,  behaviour 
at  and  after  it,  and  profiting  by  it.  With  Prayers  and  Hymns 
suited  to  the  several  parts  of  that  Holy  Office.  To  which  is 
added,  A  Short  Discourse  of  Baptism,  By  Samuel  Wesley,  A.M., 
Chaplain  to  the  Most  Honourable  John,  Lord  Marquis  of  Nor- 
manby,  and  Rector  of  Epworth,  in  the  diocese  of  Lincoln.  Lon- 
don :  Printed  for  Charles  Harper.     1700." 

This  long  title  almost  renders  a  description  of  the  book  unne- 
cessary. The  book,  however,  besides  what  is  described  in  the 
title-page,  contains  as  an  appendix  the  "  Letter  concerning  the 
Religious  Societies,"  from  which  quotations  have  been  already 
made,  and  altogether  consists  of  two  hundred  and  ninety- three 
pages  12mo.  A  few  extracts  may  be  useful,  as  illustrating  the 
writer's  opinions,  and  his  mode  of  expressing  them. 

Speaking  of  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  he  says : — "  It 
overthrows  the  very  nature  of  a  sacrament,  and  leaves  nothing  for 
an  outward  sign;  it  introduces  the  most  monstrous  absurdities, 
which,  if  granted,  would  render  the  Christian  religion  the  most 
absurd  and  most  unreasonable  in  the  world;  it  involves  the  most 
horrid,  as  well  as  most  ridiculous  consequences,  such  as  that  our 
Saviour  did  eat  His  own  body,  and  gave  it  to  His  disciples  to  eat; 
it  makes  Christians  the  worst  cannibals  to  eat  their  God  a  thou- 

*  Newcombe'a  Li/e  of  Sharpe. 


238  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l701. 

sand  times  over;  and  it  contradicts  the  very  nature  of  a  body, 
which  cannot  be  in  two  places  at  the  same  time,  much  less  in 
earth  and  in  heaven/'  (p.  19  and  20.) 

On  the  subject  of  baptism,  he  writes: — "In  baptism,  we  are  so 
far  regenerate  as  to  be  grafted  into  the  body  of  Christ's  Church, 
and  to  partake  of  its  privileges  by  the  operation  of  His  Holy 
Spirit  within  us,  who  will  never  be  wanting  to  us  or  forsake  us, 
unless  we  ourselves  put  a  bar  to  the  divine  assistance  by  confirmed 
evil  habits,  and  by  a  wicked  life.  But  since  the  divine  image, 
which  we  there  recovered,  is  very  often  obscured  again  by  the 
temptations  of  the  world  and  the  devil,  and  the  remains  of  sin 
within  us,  there  is  need  enough  for  our  being  renewed  again  by 
repentance;  nor  has  God  here  left  us  without  hope  or  comfort, 
but  has  appointed  a  remedy  even  for  those  who  sin  after  baptism, 
and  that  is  this  other  sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the 
Lord,  wherein  we  renew  our  covenant  with  Him,  and  receive  new 
strength  to  obey  His  commands,"  (p.  87.) 

In  another  place  he  writes : — "  We  say  not  that  regeneration 
is  always  completed  in  baptism,  but  that  it  is  begun  in  it ;  a 
principle  of  grace  is  infused,  which  we  lost  by  the  fall,  whicli 
shall  never  be  wholly  withdrawn,  unless  we  quench  God's  Holy 
Spirit  by  obstinate  habits  of  wickedness.  There  are  hahes  as  well 
as  strong  men  in  Christ,"  (p.  205.) 

The  same  view  of  baptism  was  substantially  held  by  his  son 
John.  The  latter,  in  his  sermon  on  the  New  Birth,  observes : — 
"  It  is  certain  our  Church  supposes  that  all  who  are  baptized  in 
their  infancy  are,  at  the  same  time,  born  again ;  and  it  is  allowed 
that  the  whole  office  for  the  baptism  of  infants  proceeds  upon 
this  supposition.  Nor  is  it  an  objection  of  any  weight  against 
this,  that  we  cannot  comprehend  bow  this  work  can  be  wrought 
in  infants.  For  neither  can  we  comprehend  how  it  is  wrought  in 
a  person  of  riper  years."  * 

It  is  no  part  of  our  task  either  to  justify  or  condemn  these 
opinions;  but,  perhaps,  the  following  extract  from  an  article,  pro- 
bably written  by  Samuel  Wesley,  and  inserted  in  the  Athenian 
Oracle,  (vol.  i.,  p.  457,)  may  with  some  find  more  favour,  though 
there  is  nothing  in  it  antagonistic  to  the  other  opinions  of  Samuel 
Wesley  already  given. 

"  Baptism  is  called  by  the  apostle  '  the  laver  of  regeneration,' 

*•  Wesley's  Worlcs,  vol.  vi.  p.  69. 


AGE  39.]  DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE.  239 

and  accordingly  our  Cliurcb,  not  only  lawfully,  but  commendably, 
uses  the  word  regeneration  for  baptism ;  and,  in  the  offices  for  that 
sacrament,  more  than  once  mentions  the  child's  being  regenerate, 
which  it  explains  by  its  being  grafted  into  the  body  of  Christ's 
Church,  and  so  admitted  into  the  communion  of  saints.  Children 
have  then  a  federal  holiness  as  children  of  believing  parents;  and, 
as  the  first-born  among  the  Jews  were  dedicate,  devoted,  or  holy  in 
the  Lord,  so  in  that  sense  children  of  believing  parents  are  holy — • 
in  that  sense  they  are  regenerate." 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  not  generally  known,  that  John  Wesley's 
"  Treatise  on  Baptism,"  published  in  the  tenth  volume  of  his  col- 
lected works,  and  dated  November  11,  1756,  is  nothing  less  or 
more  than  his  father's  "  Short  Discourse  of  Baptism,"  published 
fifty-six  years  before.  It  is  true  that  the  son  has  very  slightly 
abridged  and  verbally  altered  his  father's  essay,  but  that  is  all. 
He  thus  makes  all  the  opinions  of  his  father,  on  baptism,  his  own  ; 
but  it  is  somewhat  strange  that  he  should  republish  the  treatise 
without  the  least  reference  to  its  original  author.  It  is  hardly 
fair  that  the  treatise  should  be  published  as  his  own.  In  more 
respects  than  one,  John  Wesley  was  a  courageous  man. 

In  the  same  year  in  which  Samuel  Wesley  published  his  "  Pious 
Communicant,"  he  also  gave  to  the  public  a  poem,  entitled,  "An 
Epistle  to  a  Priend  concerning  Poetry,  by  Samuel  Wesley.  Lon- 
don: Printed  for  Charles  Harper,  1700."  The  poem  is  a  folio  of 
thirty  pages,  and  consists  of  1083  lines. 

The  preface  is  an  earnest — almost  furious — production,  stating 
his  design,  and  dwelling  on  the  strong  tendency  to  infidel  prin- 
ciples evinced  by  some  of  the  chief  literary  men  then  living.  He 
writes: — "The  direct  design  of  a  great  part  of  this  poem  is  to 
serve  the  cause  of  religion  and  virtue.  My  quarrel  is  with  those 
that  rank  themselves  among  atheists,  and  impudently  defend  and 
propagate  the  ridiculous  opinion  of  the  eternity  of  the  world,  and 
of  that  fatal,  invincible  chain  of  things  which  is  now  made  use  of 
to  destroy  the  faith,  ^as  our  lewd  plays  are  to  corrupt  the  morals, 
of  the  nation ; — an  opinion  big  with  more  absurdities  than  tran-' 
substantiation  itself,  and  of  far  more  fatal  consequences.  Besides 
weakening,  if  not  destroying,  the  belief  of  the  being  and  provi- 
dence of  God,  it  utterly  takes  away  freedom  in  human  actions, 
reduces  mankind  beneath  the  brute  creation,  perfectly  excuses  the 
greatest  villainies,  and  entirely  vacates  all  retribution  hereafter. 


240  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l701. 

One  would  wonder  with  what  face  or  conscience  such  a  set  of  men 
should  hope  to  be  treated  by  the  rules  of  civility,  when  they  them- 
selves break  through  those  of  common  humanity.  How  can  they 
expect  any  fairer  quarter  than  wolves  or  tigers;  or,  what  reason 
can  they  give  why  a  price  should  not  be  set  upon  their  heads  as 
well  as  on  the  others;  or,  at  least,  why  they  should  not  be  securely 
hampered  and  muzzled,  and  led  about  for  a  sight  like  other 
monsters?  It  is  the  fatal  and  spreading  poison  of  these  men's 
principles  and  example  which  has  extorted  these  warm  expressions 
from  me.  I  cannot  with  patience  see  my  country  ruined  by  the 
prodigious  increase  of  infidelity  and  immorality,  nor  forbear 
crying  out,  with  some  vehemence,  when  it  is  in  greater  and  more 
imminent  danger  than  it  would  have  been  formerly  if  the  Spanish 
Armada  had  made  a  descent  among  us.  If  things  go  on  as  they 
now  are,  we  are  in  a  fair  way  to  become  a  nation  of  atheists.  It 
is  now  no  difficult  matter  to  meet  with  those  who  pretend  to  be 
lewd  on  principle.  They  attack  religion  in  form,  and  batter  it 
from  every  quarter ;  they  would  turn  the  very  Scriptures  against 
themselves,  and  labour  hard  to  remove  a  Supreme  Being  out  of 
the  world ;  or,  if  they  do  vouchsafe  Him  any  room  in  it,  it  is 
only  that  they  may  find  fault  with  His  works,  which  they  think, 
with  that  blasphemer  of  old,  might  have  been  much  better  ordered 
had  they  themselves  stood  by  and  directed  the  architect. 

"  What  would  these  men  have  ?  Why  cannot  they  be  content 
to  sink  single  into  the  bottomless  pit  without  dragging  so  much 
company  with  them  ?  Can  they  grapple  with  Omnipotence  ?  Can 
they  thunder  with  a  voice  like  God,  and  cast  abroad  the  rage  of 
their  wrath?  Could  they  annihilate  hell  they  might  be  toler- 
ably happy,  more  quietly  rake  through  the  world,  and  sink  into 
nothing. 

"  There  is  too  great  reason  to  apprehend  that  this  infection  is 
spread  among  persons  of  almost  all  ranks,  though  some  may  think 
it  decent  still  to  keep  on  a  religious  masque.  This  is  hypocrisy 
with  a  witness,  the  basest  and  meanest  of  vices.  The  cowards 
will  not  believe  a  God,  because  they  dare  not ;  for  woe  be  to  them 
if  there  be  one,  and  consequently  any  future  punishment !  From 
such  as  these  I  desire  no  favour,  but  that  of  their  ill  word ;  as 
their  crimes  must  expect  none  from  me.  If  I  could  be  ambitious 
of  a  name  in  the  world,  it  should  be  that  I  might  sacrifice  it  in  so 
glorious  a  cause  as  that  of  religion  and  virtue.     If  none  but 


AGE  39.]  DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE.  241: 

generals  must  fight  in  this  sacred  war,  when  there  are  such  in- 
fernal hosts  on  the  other  side,  they  could  never  prevail  without 
one  of  the  ancient  miracles.  If  little  people  can  but  discharge 
the  place  of  a  private  sentinel,  it  is  all  that  is  expected  from  us. 
I  hope  I  shall  never  let  the  enemies  of  God  and  my  country  come 
on  without  firing,  though  it  serve  but  to  give  the  alarm ;  and,  if 
I  die  without  quitting  my  post,  I  desire  no  greater  glory.  I  have 
no  j)ersoual  pique  against  any  whose  characters  I  may  have  given 
in  this  poem,  nor  think  the  worse  of  them  for  their  thoughts  of 
me.  I  hope  I  have  everywhere  done  them  justice,  and  have  given 
them  commendation  where  they  merit  it." 

This  is  strong  language  respecting  the  chief  writers  of  the  day  ; 
but  it  was  not  unneeded.  It  is  true,  that,  there  were  honourable 
exceptions — such  as  Addison,  who  was  now  enjoying  his  jDcnsion 
of  £300  a  year  for  his  complimentary  poem  on  one  of  the  cam- 
paigns of  King  William ;  Sir  Richard  Steele,  who  was  writing 
his  "Christian  Hero;"  Dean  Swift,  who,  having  published  his 
poetical  essays,  was  now  pondering  his  "Tale  of  a  Tub;"  Pope, 
who,  as  a  boy  twelve  years  old,  was  writing,  in  Windsor  Forest, 
his  "Ode  on  Solitude;"  Parnell,  who  was  just  made  M.A.,  and 
ordained  a  deacon ;  and  Edward  Young,  who  was  now  complet- 
ing the  first  part  of  his  education  at  Winchester.  Of  these  and 
others  we  say  nothing  ;  but  contemporaneous  with  them  were 
William  Wycherley,  who  attacked  vice,  it  is  true,  but  attacked  it 
with  the  severity  of  a  cynic,  and  the  language  of  a  libertine ; 
Matthew  Prior,  wlio,  notwithstanding  his  poetic  fame,  cohabited 
with  a  despicable  drab  of  the  lowest  kind;  William  Congreve, 
"the  ultimate  effect  of  whose  plays,"  says  Dr  Johnson,  "is  to 
represent  pleasure  in  alliance  with  vice,  and  to  relax  those  obli- 
gations by  which  life  ought  to  be  regulated  ;"  Lord  Bolingbroke^ 
whom  Johnson  designated  "  a  scoundrel,  who  charged  a  pop-gun 
against  Christianity ;  and  a  coward,  who  left  half-a-crown  to  a 
beggarly  Scotchman  (David  Mallet)  to  fire  it  off;"  Anthony 
Collins,  the  infidel,  who,  notwithstanding  his  abilities  as  a  writer, 
was  detected  in  so  many  instances  of  false  quotations,  and  other 
unfair  modes  of  controversy,  that  he  must  ever  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  most  flagrant  instances  of  literary  disingenuousness ; 
Matthew  Tindall,  some  of  whose  infidel  productions  were,  by  a 
vote  of  the  House  of  Commons,  ordered  to  be  burned  by  the 
common  hangman  ;    John  Toland,  the  "  miserable  sophist,"  as 

Q 


242  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l701. 

Swift  calls  liim,  whose  sceptical  writings  were  ordered  to  be 
burned  by  tlie  Irish  Parliament,  and  who  discussed  the  mysteries 
of  Christianity  in  coffee-houses  and  other  public  places,  until  at 
last  he  wanted  a  meal  of  meat,  and  fell  to  borrowing  a  few  pence 
from  any  one  that  would  lend  to  him ;  and  John  Dryden,  with 
his  sometimes  Popish,  and  sometimes  latitudinarian  creed — a  man 
of  splendid  talents,  but  whose  writings,  while  flashing  with  the 
highest  genius,  are  often  soaked  and  loathsome  with  the  foulest 
vice. 

Macaulay,  in  reference  to  a  period  a  few  years  earlier,  writes ; 
— "  The  profligacy  of  the  English  plays,  satires,  songs,  and  novels 
of  that  age  is  a  deep  blot  on  our  national  fame.  The  evil  may 
easily  be  traced  to  its  source.  The  wits  and  the  Puritans  had 
never  been  on  friendly  terms.  Prom  the  Reformation  to  the  civil 
war,  almost  every  writer  had  taken  some  opportunity  of  assailing 
the  straight-haired,  snuffling,  whining  saints,  who  christened  their 
children  out  of  the  Book  of  Nehemiah,  who  groaned  in  the  spirit 
at  the  sight  of  Jack  in  the  Green,  and  who  thought  it  impious  to 
taste  plum-porridge  on  Christmas-day.  At  length  a  time  came 
when  the  laughers  began  to  look  grave  in  their  turn.  The  rigid, 
ungainly  zealots,  after  having  furnished  much  good  sport  during 
two  generations,  rose  up  in  arms,  conquered,  ruled,  and,  grimly 
smiling,  trod  down  under  their  feet  the  whole  crowd  of  mockers. 
At  the  Restoration  the  old  fight  recommenced,  and  the  war  be- 
tween wit  and  Puritanism  soon  became  a  war  between  wit  and 
morality.  Whatever  the  canting  Roundhead  bad  regarded  with 
reverence  was  insulted  ;  whatever  he  had  proscribed,  was  favoured. 
As  he  never  opened  his  mouth  except  in  Scriptural  phrase,  the 
new  breed  of  wits  and  fine  gentlemen  never  oi3ened  theirs  without 
uttering  ribaldry  of  which  a  porter  would  now  be  ashamed.  It  is 
not  strange,  therefore,  that  our  polite  literature,  when  it  revived 
with  the  old  civil  and  ecclesiastical  polity,  should  have  been  pro- 
foundly immoral.  A  few  eminent  men,  who  belonged  to  an 
earlier  and  better  age,  were  exempt  from  the  general  contagion. 
The  verse  of  Waller  still  breathed  the  sentiments  which  had 
animated  a  more  chivalrous  generation.  Cowley,  distinguished  as 
a  loyalist  and  as  a  man  of  letters,  raised  his  voice  courageously 
against  the  immorality  which  disgraced  both  letters  and  loyalty. 
A  mightier  poet,  tried  at  once  by  pain,  danger,  poverty,  obloquy, 
and  blindness,  meditated,  undisturbed  by  the   obscene   tumult 


AGE  39.]  DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE.  243 

which  raged  all  around  him,  a  song  so  sublime  and  so  holy  that 
it  would  not  have  misbecome  the  lips  of  those  etherial  virtues 
whom  he  saw,  with  that  inner  eye  which  no  calamity  could  darken, 
flinging  down  on  the  jasper  pavement  their  crowns  of  amaranth 
and  gold.  But  these  were  men  whose  minds  had  been  trained  in 
a  world  which  had  passed  away.  They  gave  place  to  a  younger 
generation  of  wits  ;  and  of  that  generation,  from  Dryden  down  to 
D'Urfey,  the  common  characteristic  was  Jiard-hearted,  shameless, 
swaggering  licentiousness,  at  once  inelegant  and  inhuman.  " 

Samuel  Wesley's  "Epistle  concerning  Poetry"  is  ingenious  and 
able.  The  editor  of  Dr  Adam  Clarke's  Miscellaneous  Works  ob- 
serves :  "  Such  a  poem  as  this  may  be  supposed  to  have  suggested 
Lord  Byron's  '  English  Bards  and  Scotch  Eeviewers.' "  We  would 
add,  that  perhaps  it  suggested  a  much  earlier  work,  the  "  Dunciad"  of 
Alexander  Pope,  which  was  first  published  in  1727,  twenty-seven 
years  after  the  publication  of  Wesley's  "Epistle."  At  all  events, 
both  Pope  and  Byron  would  have  acted  better  if,  like  Samuel 
Wesley,  they  had  been  guided  by  justice,  instead  of  being  goaded 
by  spleen,  and  if  their  works,  like  his,  had  contained  more  of 
criticism  and  less  of  spite. 

It  is  difficult,  without  giving  extracts,  to  furnish  a  just  idea 
of  Mr  Wesley's  poem.  The  following  are  some  of  the  topics  that 
are  taken  up  and  sketched — viz.,  Genius,  Wit,  Judgment,  Inven- 
tion, Memory,  Learning,  Conversation,  Style,  Eeading,  Measure, 
Numbers,  Pauses,  Quantity,  Ehyme,  Epic  poetry,  Tragedy,  the 
Ode,  and  Satire.  In  dwelling  on  these  points,  Wesley  takes  the 
opportunity  of  referring  to  the  most  popular  writers  of  poetry  to 
illustrate  his  meaning.  Chaucer's  lines  are  so  rough  and  so  un- 
equal in  their  flow,  that  to  describe  their  measure  is  impossible. 
Spencer,  with  his  "vast  genius"  and  "noble  thoughts,"  is  a  master 
of  English  quantity  ;  but  his  stanzas  are  cramped,  and  his  rhymes 
afi'ected  by  antique  words.  Dryden,  with  his  "matchless  skill," 
is  highly  praised  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  Wesley  charges  him  with 
having  "made  vice  pleasing,  and  damnation  shine;"  and  entreats 
him,  after  "sixty  years  of  lewdness,"  to  repent  and  seek  God's 
forgiveness.  Blackmore  is  eulogised  by  Wesley,  at  the  time  when 
all  the  wits  were  treating  him  with  ridicule ;  for  few  excelled  him 
in  writing  poetic  fables,  and  each  of  his  pages  is  "  big  with  Vir- 
gil's manly  thought."  But,  instead  of  giving  quotations  descrip- 
tive of  men,  we  give  the  following,  which,  to  say  the  least,  is 


244)  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l704. 

thoughtful  and  ingenious.     The  reader  will  perceive  that  the  lines 
are  intended  to  be  a  description  of  the  human  head  : — 

"A  cave  there  is,  wherein  those  nymphs  reside, 
Who  all  the  realms  of  sense  and  fancy  guide ; 
Nay,  some  affirm,  that  in  the  deepest  cell 
Imperial  Keason's  self  does  not  disdain  to  dwell. 
With  living  reed  it 's  thatch'd  and  guarded  round, 
Which,  moved  by  winds,  emit  a  silver  sound. 
Two  crystal  fountains  near  its  entrance  play. 
Wide  scattering  golden  beams,  which  ne'er  decay  ; 
Two  labyrinths  behind,  harmonious  sounds  convey. 
Chiefly,  within,  the  room  of  state  is  famed, 
Of  rich  Mosaic  work  divinely  framed  ; 
Of  small  extent  to  view,  'twill  all  things  hide ; 
Heaven's  azure  arch  itself  not  half  so  wide. 
Here  all  the  arts  their  sacred  mansion  choose, 
Here  dwells  the  mother  of  the  heaven-born  muse. 
With  Wondrous  mystic  figures  round  'tis  wrought, 
Inlaid  with  fancy  and  anneal'd  with  thought. 
What  was,  or  is,  or  labours  yet  to  be, 
Within  the  womb  of  dark  futurity. 
May  stowage  in  this  wondrous  storehouse  find. 
Yet  leave  unnumber'd  empty  cells  behind. 
Whate'er  within  this  sacred  hall  you  find. 
Let  judgment  sort,  and  skilf ql  method  bind ; 
And  as  from  these  you  draw  your  ancient  store. 
Daily  supply  the  magazine  with  more." — (Page  3.) 

No  sooner  was  the  "  Epistle  concerning  Poetry"  out  of  hand, 
than  Samuel  Wesley  devoted  himself  to  a  much  larger  poetic 
work,  entitled  "The  History  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
attempted  in  Verse,  and  adorned  with  three  hundred  and  thirty 
Sculptures.  Written  by  S.  Wesley,  A.M. ;  the  Cuts  done  by  J. 
Sturt.     London  :  Printed  for  C.  Harper." 

Dr  Clarke  says  the  first  edition  of  this  work  was  published 
in  1701  ;  but  the  earliest  edition  with  which  the  writer  is  ac- 
quainted was  published  in  1704,  and  is  in  three  volumes,  of  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty  pages  each.  Another  edition  was  pub- 
lished in  1717,  and  was  dedicated  to  "the  Most  Honourable  the 
Lady  Marchioness  of  Normanby ;" — a  lady  "ennobled  by  birth, 
beauty,  and  fortune,  but  more  by  piety  and  virtue." 

In  his  preface  to  the  reader,  he  says  :  "  I  have  but  little  to  say 
concerning  this  small  present  which  I  here  make  thee.  It  is  some 
account  of  the  intervals  of  my  time,  which  I  wish  had  never  been 
worse  employed.    There  are  some  passages  here  represented  which 


AGE  •12.]  DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE.  245 

are  so  barren  of  circumstances,  that  it  was  not  easy  to  make  them 
shine  in  verse ;  though  they  could  not  be  -well  omitted  without 
breaking  the  thread  of  the  history.  But  there  are  others  where  I 
have  more  liberty,  wherein  it  is  my  own  fault  if  I  have  not  suc- 
ceeded better.  On  the  whole,  if  aught  that  is  here  may  be  useful 
to  any  good  Christian,  and  tend  to  promote  piety,  I  shall  be  better 
pleased  than  if  I  could  have  composed  a  book  on  any  other  subject 
worthy  to  be  dedicated  in  the  Vatican ;  for  I  hope  I  am  got  on 
the  right  side  of  the  world,  and  am  as  indifferent  to  it  as  it  can  be 
to  me." 

The  engravings,  or  "  Sculptures,"  as  the  rector  calls  them,  are 
small,  but  full  of  genius.  John  Sturt,  the  artist,  was  born  in 
1658,  and  died  in  1730.  He  is  celebrated  principally  for  the  ex^ 
traordinary  minuteness  and  beauty  of  his  engraved  writing.  He 
engraved  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  compass  of  a  silver  penny,  and 
an  Elegy  on  Queen  Mary  in  so  small  a  size  that  it  might  be  set  in 
a  ring  or  locket.  His  most  curious  work,  however,  is  the  "  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,"  which  he  engraved  with  marvellous  neatness 
on  one  hundred  and  eighty- eight  silver  plates,  in  double  columns. 
Prefixed  is  a  portrait  of  King  George  I.,  the  lines  ou  the  king's 
face  being  made  by  an  inscription  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Deca- 
logue, the  Creed,  the  Prayers  for  the  Koyal  Family,  and  the  21st 
Psalm,  all  in  writing  so  minute  as  scarcely  to  be  read  with  the  aid 
of  a  microscope.  This  remarkable  work  was  published  by  sub- 
scription in  1717  ;  and  about  the  same  time  another  of  his 
productions  was  similarly  issued,  "  A  Companion  to  the  Altar,'' 
executed  in  the  same  ingenious  manner.  The  poor  artist,  like  the 
poor  rector,  was  beset  with  poverty  all  his  days.  In  his  old 
age,  he  was  offered  an  asylum  in  the  Charter-House,  but  respect- 
fully declined  accepting  it.  Such  was  the  man  who  engraved 
the  "  three  hundred  and  thirty  sculptures "  which  adorn  and 
illustrate  Samuel  Wesley's  "  History  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments." 

This  work  of  Wesley,  like  his  Life  of  Christ,  is  permanently 
injured  by  the  hastiness  in  which  it  was  evidently  written,  and 
by  the  unfinished  state  of  many  of  its  lines ;  but,  at  the  same 
time,  it  contains  scores  of  passages  worthy  of  Wesley's  great 
genius.  To  enable  the  reader  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  book's 
excellencies  and  faults,  we  subjoin  a  few  random  extracts,  taking 
four  from  the  Old  Testament  and  four  from  the  New. 


246  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAIMUEL  WESLEY.  [1704. 

After  describing  Moses  and  his  flock  at  Horeb^Wesley  writes  : — 

"  As  he  the  sylvan  scene  with  pleasure  views. 
By  gentle  motion  di-ess'd  in  various  hues, 
A  hollow  wind  comes  whispering  through  the  leaves ; 
The  solid  rock  with  dire  convulsions  cleaves  ; 
The  largest  bush,  and  fairer  than  the  rest, 
He  saw  in  harmless  flames,  and  lambent  lightnings  dress'd. 
Though  strange,  though  wondrous  strange  the  sight  appear, 
He  to  the  burning  bush  approaches  near ; 
When  from  the  flames  a  voice  like  thunder  broke, 
And  Moses  in  these  awful  words  bespoke  : 

'  Thy  sandals  quickly  loose,  bold  mortal,  and  retire  ; 
This  place  is  holy  ground,  and  God  is  in  the  fire  !'  " 

The  lines  following  refer  to  the  giving  of  the  ten  command- 
ments : — ■ 

"  Hark  !  how  insufferable  thunders  tear 
Both  earth  and  heaven  !  while  forky  lightnings  glare  ! 
Trembles  the  camp  ;  the  solid  mountain  shakes  ;  ' 

The  earth,  beneath  it,  to  the  centre  quakes — 
The  Loi'd  descends,  the  Thunderer's  voice  is  known  ! 
And  holy  myriads  stand  around  his  throne. 
The  ten  dread  words  from  Sinai  he  recites. 
Which  his  own  hands  in  marble  tables  writes  ; 
Great  Nature's  transcript,  and  eternal  law, 
Whence  future  sages  shall  their  models  draw ; 
Wise  Greece  and  haughty  Kome  are  here  surpass'd, 
Each  word,  each  tittle  here,  shall  earth  and  heaven  outlast." 

The  next  extract  is  taken  from  the  piece  describing  the  pesti- 
lence, which  was  sent  on  account  of  David  numbering  the  people. 
David  having  laid  aside  his  crown,  clothes  himself  in  sackcloth, 
puts  ashes  on  his  head,  falls  prostrate  on  the  ground  and  begins 
to  pray  : — 

♦'  Mild  Pity  heard,  and  prostrate  at  the  throne 
Presents  his  prayers,  and  added  of  her  own  ; 
The  Father  smiles  and  grants ;  she  shoots  away 
Beyond  the  confines  of  eternal  day  ; 
On  her  own  peaceful  rainbo^v  swerving  down, 
She  stands  confess'd  above  the  sacred  town  ; 
Seizes  the  destroying  angel's  flaming  brand. 
Seals  in  its  sheath,  and  stops  his  lifted  hand." 

The  next  lines  are  descriptive  of  the  angel  destroying  the  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand  Assyrians  : — 

"  Lo  !  from  heaven  the  avenging  angel  came. 
His  sword  the  pestilence's  deadly  flame ;  •     . 


AGE  42.]  DEBT  AND  DILIGENCE,  247 

Incumbent  o'er  the  deadly  camp  he  flies ; 

So  glares  an  angry  comet  in  the  skies. 

A  vial  of  almighty  wrath  he  bore, 

And,  crashing,  broke,  like  burst  of  thunder's  roar — 

Oh,  what  a  groan  !  as  Nature's  self  expired, 

Or  all  this  habitable  mansion  fired — 

Awaked  by  dying  shrieks  the  warriors  rose, 

And  all  in  vain  their  spacious  shields  oppose  : 

Some  swear,  some  pray,  but  both  alike  in  vain, 

And  heaps  of  myriads  lie  on  myriads  slain. 

Averse  at  length,  and  slow  the  morning  rose, 

But  what  a  scene  its  sickly  beams  disclose  ! 

'Twas  hoiTor,  horror  all — the  plague  was  kind — 

Paler  than  death  were  those  it  left  behind." 

The  following  is  Wesley's  description  of  Christ  rebuking  the 
tempest  on  the  Lake  of  Gennesaret : — 

' '  He  rose  unmoved,  for  all  within  was  peace. 
Chid  the  mad  waves,  and  bid  their  tumults  cease ; 
Rebuked  the  winds,  which  soon  forgot  to  roar. 
And  all  the  murm'ring  billows  kiss'd  the  shore." 

The  piece  entitled  "  Jesus  in  the  Manger  visited  by  the  Shep- 
herds/' is  as  follows  : — 

"  With  joy  and  wonder  fill'd,  the  shepherds  run 
At  early  dawn,  to  seek  a  brighter  sun 
Than  e'er  before  enlighten'd  mortal  eyes ; 
But  oh  !  astonish'd  heavens  !  see  where  He  lies  ! 
That  voice,  which  shakes  the  poles,  to  infant  cries 
Is  now  contracted  ; — those  Almighty  hands 
Which  launch  th'  unerring  thunder,  wrapt  in  feeble  bands ; 
And  He,  who  turn'd  the  shining  orbs  above. 
Which,  as  His  nod  prescribes  'em,  stand  or  move  ; 
When  He  comes  down  our  ruin'd  world  to  save, 
Is  shelter'd  in  a  stable,  and  a  cave." 

The  following  is  from  a  piece  entitled,  "  Signs  of  the  Coming  of 
the  Son  of  man  in  Glory  :" — 

"  Rumours  of  war  the  guilty  world  affright ; 
Prodigious  signs,  and  many  a  fearful  sight 
Glare  in  the  heavens ;  bright  suns  to  darkness  turn, 
And  moons  and  stars,  all  clothed  in  sackcloth,  mourn — ■ 
Well  may  the  earth  with  horrid  murmurs  quake. 
When  even  the  powers  of  Heaven  themselves  shall  shake,. 
With  fervent  heat  the  elements  shall  flow. 
Yon  azure  vault  with  ruddy  vengeance  glow  ; 


248  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l704. 

Then  when  the  guilty  world  dissolves  for  fear, 

Then  shall  you  see  the  Son  of  Man  appear ; 

Amidst  the  clouds,  the  world's  great  Judge  confess'd, 

Circled  with  glitt'riug  hosts,  and  myriads  of  the  bless'd." 

We  conclude  with  an  extract  from  the  last  poem  in  the  book, 
'  The  Description  of  the  Heavenly  Jerusalem  :' — 

"  Of  pearls  those  everlasting  gates  are  made, 
Of  precious  stones  the  firm  foundation 's  laid; 
The  walls  of  jasper,  wondrous  to  behold. 
The  city  flames  with  pure  ethereal  gold ; 
Through  its  broad  streets  a  lovely  river  glides, 
It  in  the  midst,  with  crystal  streams,  divides 
No  solar  lamp,  or  moon's  officious  ray. 
No  twinkling  stars  to  make  a  fainter  day ; 
No  useless  flambeau  there,  but  from  the  throne 
A  radiant  blaze  of  light  profusely  shone. 
Here  pious  souls  shall  blissful  seats  obtain. 
With  God,  and  with  the  Lamb,  to  endless  ages  reign." 

These  extracts  are  given,  first,  because  the  book  itself  is  ex- 
tremely scarce,  and  not  one  Methodist  in  a  thousand  has  ever  seen 
it ;  and,  secondly,  as  a  sort  of  rebuke  to  the  slap-dash  and  too 
sweeping  censure  pronounced  against  it  in  Nicholl's  Literary 
Anecdotes,  namely,  that  it  is  "mere  pap,  or  milk  and  water." 
Those  three  volumes  are  not  the  best  that  Mr  Wesley  published  ; 
but  they  are  better  far  than  scores  of  similar  productions  that 
have  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  read,  and  therefore  to  be  praised. 

To  say  the  least,  every  one  must  admire  the  unwearied  diligence 
of  this  impoverished  man.  He  had  a  large  and  increasing  family, 
and  was  £300  in  debt ;  but,  instead  of  sinking  under  discourage- 
ment, he  bravely  breasts  his  trials,  and,  by  eagerly  seizing  those 
scraps  of  time  which  devotion  to  his  clerical  duties  did  not  require, 
he  tried  to  free  himself  from  his  distressing  embarrassments  by 
writing  and  publishing,  within  two  short  years,  four  good-sized 
volumes,  besides  his  "Epistle  on  Poetry,"  consisting  of  nearly 
eleyen  hundred  lines. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

CONVOCATION — 1701,  ETC. 

On  three  several  occasions,  Samuel  Wesley  was  elected  proctor  or 
convocation  man  for  the  diocese  of  Lincoln.  The  first  of  these 
elections  took  place  in  1701 ;  a  second  in  1711  ;  the  date  of  the 
third  is  doubtful.  These  three  attendances  at  convocation  brought 
upon  him  an  expenditure  of  £150,  which  he  could  ill  afford  to 
bear. 

Convocation  is  an  assembly  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of 
England  by  their  representatives.  It  is  always  held  during  the 
session  of  parliament,  and  consists  of  an  upper  and  of  a  lower 
house.  In  the  upper  house  sit  the  bishops ;  in  the  lower  the 
inferior  clergy,  represented  by  their  proctors  and  others.  The 
lower  house,  of  which  Mr  Wesley  was  a  member,  consists  of 
twenty-two  deans,  fifty-three  archdeacons,  twenty -four  preben- 
daries, and  forty-four  proctors,  (being  two  proctors  for  the  clergy 
of  each  diocese ;)  altogether  one  hundred  and  forty-three  persons. 
The  prolocutor  or  speaker  of  the  lower  house  is  always  chosen  by 
itself.  His  duty  is  to  take  care  that  the  members  of  the  house 
attend  its  sittings,  to  collect  their  debates  and  votes,  and  to 
convey  to  the  upper  house  the  resolutions  which  they  pass.  Con- 
vocation is  always  called  together  by  the  royal  writ,  directed  to 
the  archbishop  of  each  province,  requiring  him  to  summon  all 
bishops,  deans,  archdeacons,  and  others  qualified  or  entitled  to  sit 
therein.  Up  to  the  year  1605,  it  was  the  privilege  of  convocation 
to  fix  the  taxes  which  should  be  paid  by  the  clergy ;  but,  at  that 
time,  this  privilege  was  surrendered  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
on  the  condition  that  henceforth,  and  in  lieu  of  it,  the  clergy 
should  be  allowed  to  vote  at  elections  of  members  of  parliament, 
a  right  of  which  heretofore  they  had  been  deprived.  The  power 
of  convocation  is  limited.     Its  members  are  not  to  make  any 


250  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l701. 

canons  or  ecclesiastical  laws  without  the  royal  licence ;  nor,  even 
when  the  royal  licence  is  granted,  can  any  newly-made  laws  or 
canons  be  put  in  force  except  under  certain  restrictions.  They 
have  the  power  to  examine  and  to  censure  all  heretical  and  schis- 
matical  books ;  but  the  authors  of  such  books  have  an  appeal  to 
the  king  in  chancery  or  to  his  delegates.  It  ought  also  to  be 
added,  that  members  of  convocation  have  the  same  privileges 
allowed  as  belong  to  members  of  parliament. 

Such,  then,  was  the  ecclesiastical  parliament  of  which  Samuel 
Wesley  was  elected  a  member,  by  his  brother  clergymen,  in  the 
diocese  of  Lincoln,  in  1701.  The  honour  was  distingfiished, 
though,  to  a  poor  man  like  himself,  seriously  expensive.  Some 
writers  have  not  been  sparing  in  the  censures  they  have  thought 
proper  to  pronounce  on  Wesley  for  spending  so  much  money  on 
convocation  attendance,  which,  as  is  alleged,  might  have  been 
much  better  spent  in  the  payment  of  his  debts,  or  in  providing 
for  the  wants  of  his  wife  and  children.  Such  censures  are  soon 
uttered,  but  are  scarcely  merited.  The  convocation,  which  was 
called  together  in  1701,  was  one  of  unusual  importance,  and  it 
behoved  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Lincoln  to  send  as  their 
proctor  the  most  fitting  man  that  the  diocese  contained  ;  and  that 
man,  being  elected,  was  bound  by  every  principle  of  duty  and  of 
honour  to  take  upon  himself  the  onerous  responsibility  of  repre- 
senting the  gentlemen  who  had  thus  distinguished  him.  The 
expenses  of  the  office  might  be  inconvenient,  yet  to  be  selected 
as  a  fitting  representative  to  the  most  august  and  important 
ecclesiastical  assembly  in  the  land,  was  an  honour  not  to  be 
despised.  Many  a  minister  struggling  with  poverty  would  have 
readily  made  as  great  a  sacrifice  to  have  attained  as  high  a  dignity, 
especially  if  its  attainment  was  likely  to  be  the  stepping-stone  to 
yet  higher  ecclesiastical  power  and  benefit.  Samuel  Wesley's 
talents,  learning,  piety,  and  literary  works  were  sufficient  to  justify 
him  in  aspiring  after  the  higher,  if  not  highest  offices  that  the 
Church  has  to  give  ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  had  it  not  been 
for  his  pecuniary  embarrassments,  and  his  cruel  imprisonment  in 
Lincoln  gaol,  he  would  have  died,  not  the  rector  of  an  almost  un- 
known country  parish,  but  in  one  of  the  most  distinguished  positions 
to  which  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England  can  be  exalted. 
Apart  from  a  sense  of  the  honour  which  his  brethren  had  bestowed 
upon  him,  and  apart  from  his  readiness  to  undertake  difficult  and 


AGE  39.]  CONVOCATION.  251 

exjDensive  duties,  it  is  no  disparagement  of  Samuel  Wesley's  un- 
blemished character  to  say,  that  perhaps  he  had  some  hope  of  such 
promotion  when  he  consented,  at  such  an  inconvenient  sacrifice, 
to  go  as  proctor  to  the  house  of  convocation.  Considering  his 
talents,  attainments,  and  labours,  such  ambition  was  neither 
mercenary  nor  inordinate.  The  clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Lincoln 
conferred  an  honour  upon  the  Epworth  rector  in  thus  electing 
him ;  but  the  honour  was  merited,  and  it  would  have  been  not 
only  an  act  of  kindness,  but  an  act  of  justice,  if  those  who  gave 
the  honour  had  also  given  the  money  which  it  cost  to  wear  it. 

A  remarkable  anecdote  is  related  in  connexion  with  Mr  Wesley's 
first  attendance  at  convocation.  Dr  A.  Clarke,  who  gives  it,  says 
he  had  it  from  the  lips  of  Mr  Wesley's  son  John,  The  statement 
is  as  follows  : — 

"Were  I,"  said  John  Wesley,  "to  write  my  own  life,  I  should 
begin  it  before  I  was  born,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  mentioning 
a  disagreement  between  my  father  and  mother.  '  Sukey,'  said 
my  father  to  my  mother  one  day  after  family  prayer,  '  why  did 
you  not  say  a77ien  this  morning  to  the  prayer  for  the  king?' 
*  Because,'  said  she,  '  I  do  not  believe  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  be 
king.'  '  If  that  be  the  case,'  said  he,  '  you  and  I  must  part ;  for 
if  we  have  two  kings,  we  must  have  two  beds.'  My  mother  was 
inflexible.  My  father  went  immediately  to  his  study ;  and,  after 
spending  some  time  with  himself,  set  out  for  London,  where,  being 
convocation  man  for  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  he  remained  without 
visiting  his  own  house  for  the  remainder  of  the  year.  On  March 
8th,  in  the  following  year,  1702,  King  William  died ;  and  as  both 
my  father  and  mother  were  agreed  as  to  the  legitimacy  of  Queen 
Anne's  title,  the  cause  of  their  misunderstanding  ceased.  My  father 
returned  to  Epworth,  and  conjugal  harmony  was  restored,"  * 

Mr  Wesley's  own  written  account  of  this  aftair  is  the  follow- 
ing : — "  The  year  before  King  William  died,  my  father  observed 
my  mother  did  not  say  amen  to  the  prayer  for  the  king.  She  said 
she  could  not,  for  she  did  not  believe  the  Prince  of  Orange  was 
kino-.  He  vowed  he  would  never  cohabit  v.ith  her  till  she  did. 
He  then  took  his  horse  and  rode  away  ;  nor  did  she  hear  anything 
of  him  for  a  twelvemonth.  He  then  came  back  and  Kved  with 
her  as  before.  But  I  fear  his  vow  was  not  forgotten  before 
God."  t 

*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family.  t  Methodist  Mag.,  1784,  p.  606. 


252  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l701. 

There  may  be  the  merest  modicum  of  truth  in  this  strange  story; 
but  the  greater  part  of  it  is  unfounded. 

We  grant  that  Mrs  Wesley  held  the  doctrine  of  the  "  divine 
right  of  kings ;"  and  holding  that,  of  course,  she  regarded  the 
Eevolution  of  1688  as  a  royal  wrong,  and  considered  William  of 
Orange  a  usurper.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Writing  in 
the  year  1709,  she  says: — "Whether  they  did  well,  in  driving  a 
prince  from  his  hereditary  throne,  I  leave  to  their  own  consciences 
to  determine ;  though  I  cannot  tell  how  to  think  that  a  king  of 
England  can  ever  be  accountable  to  his  subjects  for  any  mal- 
administrations or  abuse  of  power ;  but  as  he  derives  his  power 
from  God,  so  to  Him  only  he  must  answer  for  his  using  it.  But 
still  I  make  a  great  difference  between  those  who  entered  into  the 
confederacy  against  their  prince,  and  those  who,  knowing  nothing 
of  the  contrivance,  and  so  consequently  not  consenting  to  it,  only 
submitted  to  the  present  government.  But  whether  the  praying 
for  a  usurper,  and  vindicating  his  usurpations  after  he  has  the 
throne,  be  not  participating  in  his  sins,  is  easily  determined.'^* 

With  such  language  before  us,  there  can  be  no  question  that 
the  opinions  of  INIrs  Wesley  concerning  King  William  and  his 
predecessor  King  James  were  widely  different  from  those  which 
her  husband  held ;  and  it  may  be  easily  imagined  that  such  a 
difference  of  opinion  might  lead  to  occasional  unpleasantness. 
No  one  doubts  the  truthfulness  of  the  story  up  to  a  certain  point ; 
namely,  that  Mrs  Wesley,  on  a  certain  morning  in  1701,  at  family 
prayer,  omitted  to  say  ameii  to  the  prayer  for  King  William  ;  that 
her  husband  took  her  to  task  for  this  omission  ;  that  sharp  words 
ensued ;  and  that  he  immediately  set  out  for  London.  The  one 
damaging  point  which  we  deny  is,  that  Samuel  Wesley  allowed  a 
miserable  squabble  respecting  the  rights  of  King  William  to  make 
him  neglect  his  wife,  and  to  leave  his  house,  his  family,  and  his 
flock  for  the  space  of  twelve  months  ;  a  thing  which,  if  true,  would 
have  been  a  scandalous,  cruel,  and  wicked  act.  Fortunately  there 
is  ample  evidence  to  refute  such  a  disgraceful  fiction. 

We  maintain,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  story  is  highly  improb- 
able. Samuel  and  Susannah  Wesley  became  husband  and  wife 
about  the  time  of  William  and  Mary's  accession.  Something  like 
a  dozen  years  had  elapsed  since  then.  Every  Sunday,  and  in  fact, 
every  day,  Samuel  Wesley  had  been  accustomed  to  pray  for  King 
•  Kirk's  Mother  of  the  Wedtya. 


AGE  39.]  CONVOCATION.  253 

William.  His  wife  knew  this,  and  yet  all  tlie  time  they  had  lived 
in  love  and  harmony.  Up  to  this  period,  there  is  not  the  slight- 
est evidence  that  any  unpleasantness  had  S23rung  out  of  such  a 
matter.  Susannah  Wesley  loved  her  husband,  and  her  husband 
loved  her.  "  Keverence  and  love  your  mother,"  wrote  her  hus- 
band to  their  son  Samuel.  "  Though  I  should  be  jealous  of  any 
other  rival  in  your  breast,  yet  I  will  not  be  of  her.  The  more 
duty  you  pay  her,  and  the  more  frequently  and  kindly  you  write 
to  her,  the  more  you  will  please  your  affectionate  father."  With 
such  affection  subsisting  between  them,  is  it  likely  that  a  man 
of  the  high  character  of  Samuel  Wesley  would  permit  a  paltry 
quarrel  about  King  William  to  lead  to  such  a  lengthened  con- 
imbial  separation,  involving  not  only  a  cruel  neglect  of  his  wife 
and  family,  but  a  criminal  absence  from  his  flock,  and  a  public 
disgrace  cast  upon  his  hitherto  spotless  reputation  ?  Those  who 
can  and  do  believe  a  legend  so  unlikely,  have  more  faith  than  is 
desirable. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  we  further  maintain^  that  the  disgrace- 
ful part  of  this  story  is  not  only  improbable,  but  impossible.  It 
•is  well  known  that  convocation  was  summoned  twice  during  the 
year  1701.  In  the  first  instance,  it  met  on  the  10th  of  February, 
and  was  prorogued  on  the  24th  of  June  following.  It  was  con- 
vened again  on  the  31st  of  December;  and,  between  nine  and  ten 
•weeks  after,  at  the  death  of  King  William  on  the  8th  of  March 
1702,  it  was  again  prorogued.  How  then  stands  the  matter  in 
reference  to  Samuel  Wesley's  long-continued  and  criminal  absence 
from  his  home  and  from  his  church  ?  If  he  attended  the  convo- 
cation which  opened  on  February  10,  it  is  not  tnie  that  "he  re- 
mained without  visiting  his  own  house  for  the  remainder  of  thd 
year;"  for,  on  the  14th  and  18th  of  May  of  that  same  year,  we 
find  him  at  Epworth,  attending  to  his  wife  with  affectionate  ten- 
derness, when  she  was  confined  of  twins  ;  and  writing  to  Arch- 
bishop Sharpe  the  two  letters  inserted  in  our  last  chapter.  If, 
again,  he  attended  the  convocation  which  opened  on  Dec.  31st,  all 
the  time  that  he  was  absent  from  his  family  and  from  his  parish 
was  not  more  than  about  ten  weeks  ;  for,  at  the  expiration  of  that 
time,  according  to  the  story  itself,  "  King  William  died,"  and,  con-i 
vocation  being  in  consequence' prorogued,  "Wesley  returned  to 
Epworth,  and  conjugal  harmony  was  restored." 

Let  the  reader  choose  which  convocation  in  1701  he  likes,  or, 


254i  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l701. 

as  we  are  iiicliued  to  do,  let  liim  entertain  the  opinion  that  Samuel 
Wesley  attended  both,  yet,  still  the  evidence  above  recited,  most 
triumphantly  refutes  all  that  is  disgraceful  in  this  cock-and-bull 
story ;  for  we  have  proof  that,  in  neither  case,  was  the  rector  of 
Epworth  away  from  his  family  and  charge  for  a  longer  period 
than  ten  or  a  dozen  weeks. 

We  submit  that  in  such  an  absence  there  was  nothing  to  jus- 
tify such  a  story.  At  least,  an  entire  week  would  be  sjient  in  mere 
journeying.  Then,  there  were  the  sittings  of  convocation,  which 
we  know  were  unusually  important  and  exciting.  Then  there 
was  the  fact  that  Samuel  Wesley  was  a  literary  man,  and  had 
already,  in  London,  published  a  large  number  of  literary  works 
— a  fact  giving  rise  to  business  transactions,  which  the  rector 
would  doubtless  attend  to,  now  that  he  was  personally  present. 
And  theu,  finally,  there  was  the  fact  that  his  brother  Matthew 
was  resident  in  London,  and  probably  also  his  mother,  besides  a 
large  number  of  his  early  and  literary  friends,  with  all  of  whom, 
it  is  natural  to  suppose,  he  would  wish  to  spend  as  much  time  as 
his  other  duties  would  permit.  Put  all  these  things  together,  and 
what  is  there  to  be  gaped  at  in  the  rector  of  Epworth,  as  "  con- 
vocation man"  being  absent  from  his  family  and  his  church,  once, 
or  even  twice,  at  the  beginning  of  the  years  1701  and  1702,  for 
about  ten  or  a  dozen  weeks  ?  It  is  far  from  our  intention  to 
accuse  either  John  Wesley  or  Adam  Clarke  of  wilful  misrepre- 
sentation ;  in  this  respect  they  are  both  far  above  suspicion,  but 
the  tale,  as  first  told  to  John  Wesley,  was  doubtless  told  in  an  ex- 
aggerated form  ;  and  it  is  no  disrespect  to  the  wonderful  memory 
of  Adam  Clarke  to  say,  that  during  the  thirty  or  more  years  which 
elapsed  between  the  time  when  John  Wesley  told  the  story  and 
the  time  when  Adam  Clarke  published  it,  the  remembrance  of  the 
latter  was  not  so  vivid  as  to  be  infallible. 

We  begrudge  the  space  which  has  been  filled  with  this  unfor- 
tunate anecdote ;  but  Samuel  Wesley  is  too  great  and  good  a 
man  to  permit  his  character  to  be  injured  undeservedly.  Let  the 
full  truthfulness  of  the  legend  be  admitted,  and  Wesley's  fair 
fame  is  branded.  Viewed  in  such  a  light,  the  thing  is  serious, 
and  deserves  some  research  and  trouble  in  refuting  it.  This  is 
the  only  matter,  in  the  whole  of  Mr  Wesley's  history,  that  in  the 
least  affects  his  morality  and  honour ;  and,  in  our  conscience,  we 
believe  that  everything  in  the  story,  which  is  deserving  of  being 


AGE  39.]  CONVOCATION.  255 

censured,  is  unfounded  fiction,  and  utterly  unworthy  of  the  public 
credence. 

Samuel  Wesley  attended  convocation  thrice.  It  is  certain  that 
.one  of  these  occasions  was  in  1701,  and  it  is  probable  that  a 
second  was  in  the  same  year ;  and  hence  we  give  a  brief  account 
of  the  proceediiigs  of  both  these  ecclesiastical  gatherings. 

With  the  exception  of  the  abortive  attempt  in  ]  689,  convoca- 
tion, though  regularly  assembling  with  every  parliament,  had 
literally  done  nothing  for  the  last  nine  and  thirty  years.  Now,  in 
1701,  it  met  to  transact  business.  First  of  all,  on  February  10th, 
those  ecclesiastical  legislators  assembled  in  St  Paul's  Cathedral, 
where  a  sermon  was  preached  by  Dr  Haley,  Dean  of  Chichester. 
The  members  of  the  Lower  House  then  proceeded  to  the  Chapter 
House,  and  elected  Dr  Hooper,  Dean  of  Canterbury,  their  pro- 
locutor. "  A  man  of  learning,"  says  Burnet,  "  of  good  conduct, 
but  reserved,  crafty,  and  ambitious."  They  then  adopted  certain 
resolutions  as  a  preparation  for  the  battle  which  they  knew  was 
coming.  1.  That  they  had  a  right  to  sit  whenever  parliament 
sat,  and  that  they  could  not  be  legally  prorogued  but  when  par- 
liament was  prorogued.  2.  That  they  had  no  need  of  licence  to 
enter  upon  debates,  and  to  prepare  matters.  3.  That  as  parlia- 
ment could  pass  no  act  without  the  royal  assent,  so  convocation 
could  neither  enact  nor  publish  a  canon  without  the  royal  licence. 

This  soon  brought  them  into  conflict  with  their  brethren  of  the 
Upper  House.  On  February  25th,  an  order  was  brought  to  them, 
signed  by  the  archbishop,  proroguing  both  houses  in  the  usual 
form.  At  the  time,  the  Lower  House  was  holding  its  session  in 
the  chapel  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  the  session  was  continued  in  de- 
fiance of  the  archbishop's  mandate,  until,  after  a  short  debate,  they 
adjourned  themselves.  Then  followed  a  private  squabble  between 
the  archbishop  and  the  prolocutor,  respecting  the  prerogatives  of 
the  two  houses.  This  lasted  until  the  6th  of  March,  when  the  two 
houses  met,  and  agreed  upon  the  form  of  an  address  to  the  king, 
thanking  him  for  his  pious  regard  for  the  reformed  churches  in 
general,  and  expressing  their  determination  to  maintain  the  royal 
supremacy,  and  the  articles  and  canons  of  the  Church. 

Their  next  session  was  a  fortnight  later,  on  March  20th,  when 
the  prolocutor  of  the  Lower  House  brought  up  a  representation  of 
the  "  pernicious,  dangerous,  and  scandalous  "  doctrines  contained 
in   Toland's   "  Christianity   not  Mysterious,"  and  requested  the 


250  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l701. 

bishops  to  agree  to  their  resolutions,  and  to  censure  the  book.  This 
was  another  cause  of  jangling.  Burnet  says  : — "  This  struck  di- 
rectly at  Ej>iscopal  authority.  It  seemed  strange  to  see  men  who 
had  so  long  asserted  the  divine  right  of  Episcopacy,  and  that 
presbyters  were  only  their  assistants  and  council,  now  assume  to 
themselves  the  most  important  act  of  church  government,  the 
judging  in  points  of  doctrine." 

On  March  22d,  another  book  was  discussed  in  the  Upper 
House,  entitled,  "  Essays  on  the  Balance  of  Power,"  in  which  it 
was  asserted  that  persons  had  been  promoted  in  the  Church  who 
were  remarkable  for  nothing  but  enmity  to  the  divinity  of  Christ.* 
The  bishops,  therefore,  agreed  that  a  paper  should  be  affixed  to  the 
doors  of  Westminster  Abbey,  calling  upon  the  author  to  make 
good  his  assertion,  in  order  that  the  parties  might  be  proceeded 
against,  otherwise  the  passage  in  question  would  be  voted  a  public 
scandal. 

The  next  fortnight  was  spent  in  a  quarrel  between  the  two 
houses  respecting  the  right  of  the  Lower  House  to  prorogue  itself, 
and  they  then  adjourned  from  the  8th  of  April  to  the  8th  of  May. 

On  the  latter  day  the  houses  again  assembled.  The  archbishop 
warmly  rebuked  the  Lower  House  for  their  unwarrantable  assump- 
tion in  daring  to  prorogue  themselves,  and  for  claiming  a  distinct 
recess  ;  and  declared  that  such  behaviour  had  "  given  the  greatest 
blow  to  the  Church  that  it  received  since  the  Presbyterian  assembly 
that  sat  at  Westminster  in  the  late  times  of  confusion."  This  re^ 
buke  made  bad  things  worse,  and  the  Lower  House  became  more 
rebellious  than  ever.  The  bishops  appointed  a  committee  of  five 
to  meet  a  similar  number  of  the  Lower  House,  for  the  purpose  of 

*  Three  years  previous  to  tliis,  Thomas  Firmin,  a  famous  citizen  of  London,  had 
died ;  a  man  held  in  high  esteem  for  his  charities  of  all  sorts,  private  and  public. 
Firmin,  in  early  life,  sat  under  the  ministry  of  John  Goodwin,  but  was  afterwards 
converted  to  Socinianism  by  John  Biddle,  already  mentioned  in  this  history, 
Firmin  was  a  man  of  great  wealth,  and  promoted  the  printing  of  books  against 
the  Trinity,  and  distributed  them  freely  over  the  nation,  to  all  who  would  accept 
of  them.  The  result  was,  the  greatest  mysteries  in  religion  became  the  common 
topic  of  discourse,  and  were  treated  as  the  contrivances  of  priests  to  bring  the 
world  into  blind  submission  to  their  authority.  This  raised  a  great  outcry  against 
Socinianism;  and,  as  Tillotson  and  some  of  the  bishops  had  lived  in  great  friend- 
ship with  Mr  Firmin,  (because  of  his  charitable  temper,  which  they  thought  it 
became  them  to  encourage,)  books  like  "  Essays  on  the  Balance  of  Power,"  began 
to  be  put  in  circulation. — (See  Surnet's  History  of  His  Own  Time.  1st  Edit., 
vol.  ii.  p.  212.) 


AGE  39.]  CONVOCATION.  257 

examining  the  acts  of  the  present  synod,  and  to  report  upon  them. 
To  this  proposal,  the  Lower  House  replied  that  they  should  not 
nominate  any  committee ;  but  some  of  its  members  sent  an  ad- 
dress to  the  archbishop  stating  their  disapproval  of  its  proceed- 
ings. Burnet  says  : — "  Many  of  the  most  eminent  and  learned  of 
its  members  protested  against  its  proceedings ;"  but  the  actual 
protest  shows  that  the  opposition,  in  point  of  numbers,  was  a  very 
insignificant  minority,  consisting,  at  the  most,  of  only  fifteen 
persons. 

To  evince  their  opposition  still  more,  the  Lower  House  pro- 
ceeded to  attack  the  work  of  Burnet  on  the  Thirty-nine  Articles. 
This  work  had  been  undertaken  at  the  request  of  Queen  Mary^ 
and  was  published  in  1G99,  after  being  revised,  corrected,  and  ap- 
proved by  three  archbishops,  Tillotson,  Tennison,  and  Sharpe,  and 
five  bishops,  Stillingfleet,  Patrick,  Lloyd,  Williams,  and  More. 
The  complaints  of  the  Lower  House  were  three.  1.  That  Bur- 
net's book  tends  to  introduce  such  a  latitude  and  diversity  of  opi- 
nions, as  the  articles  were  framed  to  avoid.  2.  That  there  are 
many  passages  in  the  book  which  are  contrary  to  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  articles,  and  to  other  received  doctrines  of  the  Church. 
And,  3.  That  there  are  some  things  in  the  book  which  are  of  dan- 
gerous consequence  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  which  derogate 
from  the  honour  of  its  reformation.  For  a  time,  the  Upper  House 
stoutly  refused  to  receive  these  complaints,  because  of  other  ir-^ 
regularities  of  which  the  Lower  House  had  been  guilty ;  but,  at 
length,  at  Burnet's  request,  they  were  entertained.  A  committee 
was  appointed,  and  came  to  the  following  resolutions : — 1.  That 
the  Lower  House  "  had  no  manner  of  power  judicially  to  censure 
any  book."  2.  That  it  "  ought  not  to  have  entered  on  the  exami- 
nation of  a  book  of  any  bishop  without  first  acquainting  the  pre-^ 
sident  and  bishops  with  it."  8.  That  the  censure  of  Burnet's  book 
"  is  defamatory  and  scandalous."  4.  That  Burnet,  by  his  writ- 
ings, "had  done  great  service  to  the  Church  of  England,  and 
deserves  the  thanks  of  convocation."  5.  That  the  prolocutor  and 
some  other  members  of  the  Lower  House  had  been  guilty  of  con- 
tempt and  disobedience. 

These  were  hard  words  ;  but  the  unseemly  squabble  was  soon 
over ;  for  a  few  days  afterwards,  on  June  24th,  the  royal  writ 
prorogued  parliament,  and,  of  course,  prorogued  convocation 
with  it. 

B 


258  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l702. 

The  new  convocation  was  opened  on  the  31st  of  December 
following.  The  Latin  service  was  read  by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford, 
and  the  sermon  preached  by  the  Dean  of  St  Paul's.  Dr  AVood- 
ward  was  elected  prolocutor,  and  two  months  were  occupied  in 
the  same  angry  discussions,  respecting  the  prerogatives  of  the 
two  houses,  which  had  disgraced  the  convocation  previous.  The 
simple  point  contended  for  was  this  :  the  Lower  House  claimed 
to  be  on  the  same  footing  as  to  the  Upper  House  that  the  Com- 
mons in  Parliament  are  in  regard  to  the  House  of  Lords  ;  that  is, 
to  adjourn  by  their  own  authority,  apart  from  the  Upper  House, 
where,  and  to  such  time,  as  they  should  think  proper.  This  the 
Upper  House  resisted,  maintaining  that  the  ancient  usage  was  for 
the  archbishop  to  adjourn  both  houses  together,  and  to  the  same 
time.  This  was  the  only  matter  discussed  by  the  convocation 
which  met  on  December  31,  1701  ;  and  this  was  not  settled, 
for,  in  the  midst  of  the  discussion.  King  William  died  on  the 
8th  of  March  1702,  and  thus  those  ecclesiastical  brawlers  were 
sent  home  to  attend  to  more  sacred  work  in  their  respective 
churches. 

These  disreputable  contentions  continued  for  many  years  after 
this.  "  The  governing  men  in  the  Lower  House,"  says  Burnet, 
"  were  headstrong  and  factious,  and  designed  to  force  themselves 
into  preferment  by  the  noise  they  made,  and  by  the  ill-humour 
which  they  endeavoured  to  spread  among  the  clergy,  who  were 
generally  soured  by  their  proceedings." 

It  is  impossible  to  say  what  part  Samuel  Wesley  took  in  these 
convocation  debates  ;  and,  in  the  absence  of  information,  the 
reader  is  left  to  guess. 

We  conclude  the  present  chapter  with  a  brief  review  of  the 
state  of  things  during  the  reign  of  King  William's  successor, 
Queen  Anne.  This  will  clear  the  way  for  further  details  respect- 
ing Mr  Wesley. 

Anne  was  proclaimed  Queen  of  England  in  March  1702.  She 
was  in  the  thirty-eighth  year  of  her  age,  but  was  as  much  under 
the  tutelage  of  Lord  and  Lady  Marlborough  as  if  she  had  been  a 
girl  of  fifteen,  or  of  still  tenderer  years.  Three  days  after  her 
accession,  Marlborough  was  decorated  with  the  order  of  the  gar- 
ter, and  very  soon  obtained  the  entire  command  of  the  English 
army.  His  countess  was  made  groom  of  the  stole  and  mistress  of 
the  robes,  and  was  intrusted  with  the  management  of  the  privy 


AGE  40.]  CONVOCATION.  259 

purse.  His  two  daughters  were  nominated  ladies  of  the  bed- 
chamber ;  and  the  father-in-law  of  one  of  these  ladies,  the  Earl  of 
Sunderland,  obtained  the  renewal  of  a  pension  of  £2000,  which 
had  been  granted  him  by  King  William.  Marlborough's  influence, 
in  the  court  of  England  was  omnipotent.* 

The  Queen,  unlike  her  predecessor  King  William,  was  a  most 
bigoted  Tory.  Erom  her  infancy  she  had  imbibed  unconquerable 
prejudices  against  the  Whigs  ;  and  looked  upon  them  all  not  only 
as  Eepublicans,  who  hated  the  very  shadow  of  regal  authority,  but 
as  implacable  enemies  to  the  Church  of  England.  Hence  she  lost 
no  opportunity  of  filling  up  offices  of  State  with  her  own  partisans 
and  friends,  and,  in  a  short  time,  the  Whigs  of  King  William  were 
displaced,  and  the  Tories  of  Queen  Anne  took  their  posts,  f  AH 
this  had  an  influence  on  the  nation  in  general.  The  people  began 
to  change  their  sentiments,  and  persons  of  all  ranks  began  to  argue 
in  favour  of  strict  hereditary  succession,  divine  right,  and  non- 
resistance  to  the  regal  power. 

"  Nature,"  says  Macaulay,  "had  made  Queen  Anne  a  bigot.  Such 
was  the  constitution  of  her  mind,  that,  to  the  religion  of  her  nur- 
sery she  could  not  but  adhere,  without  examination  and  without 
doubt,  till  she  was  laid  in  her  coffin.  In  the  court  of  her  father 
she  had  been  deaf  to  all  that  could  be  urged  in  favour  of  tran- 
substantiation  and  auricular  confession.  In  the  court  of  her 
brother  she  was  equally  deaf  to  all  that  could  be  urged  in  favour 
of  a  general  union  among  Protestants.  This  slowness  and  obsti- 
nacy made  her  important.  It  was  a  great  thing  to  be  the  only 
member  of  the  Eoyal  family  who  regarded  Papists  and  Presby- 
terians with  an  impartial  aversion." 

Soon  after  the  Queen's  accession  there  was  a  parliamentary 
election,  and  the  choice  went  generally  in  favour  of  those  who  were 

*  Macaulay  writes: — "Queen  Anne  had  no  will,  no  judgment,  no  conscience, 
but  those  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Mai'lborough.  To  them  she  had  sacrificed 
affections,  prejudices,  habits,  interests.  In  obedience  to  them,  she  had  joined  in 
the  conspiracy  against  her  father.  She  had  fled  from  Whitehall  in  the  depth  of 
winter,  through  ice  and  mire,  to  a  hackney  coach.  She  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
rebel  camp.  She  had  consented  to  yield  her  place  in  the  order  of  succession  to  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  While  a  large  party  was  disposed  to  make  her  an  idol,  the 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Marlborough  regarded  her  merely  as  their  puppet,  and  no 
person,  who  had  a  natural  interest  in  Anne,  could  observe,  without  uneasiness, 
the  strange  infatuation  which  made  her  the  slave  of  an  imperious  and  reckless 
termagant." 

t  Knight's  History  of  England. 


2G0  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l703. 

friends  to  the  Church  and  monarchy.  The  House  of  Commons 
was  now  ready,  as  well  as  her  Majesty's  chief  ministers,  to  concur 
in  her  designs  for  the  suppression  of  Dissenters,  and  for  the 
aggrandisement  of  the  Established  Church.  The  House  of  Lords, 
however,  had  been  so  remodelled,  in  the  reign  of  King  William, 
that  there  was  only  a  minority  of  its  members  in  favour  of  the 
Queen's  principles  and  projects,  and  hence  ecclesiastical  measures, 
which  passed  the  Lower  House  with  acclamations,  met  in  the  Upper 
House  with  opposition  and  defeat. 

One  of  the  first  measures  of  the  new  parliament  was  the 
"  Occasional  Conformity  Bill,"  the  real  object  of  which  was  to 
render  null  the  Toleration  Act,  by  providing  that  all  who  took  the 
sacrament  and  the  test,  as  qualifications  for  ofiice,  and  afterwards 
went  to  the  meetings  of  Dissenters,  should  be  disabled  for  holding 
public  offices,  and  should  be  fined  £100,  and  £5  additional  for 
every  day  that  such  person  or  persons  continued  in  public  office 
after  being  present  at  such  Dissenting  meetings.  The  Queen's 
Tories  in  the  House  of  Commons  carried  the  bill  with  a  triumphant 
majority ;  but,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  King  William's  bishops 
stoutly  opposed  the  measure,  and,  despite  the  influence  of  Marl- 
borough, succeeded  in  its  rejection.  When  parliament  broke  up, 
the  Queen  told  its  members  that  she  hoped  such  of  her  subjects 
as  had  "  the  misfortune  to  dissent  from  the  Church  of  England 
would  rest  secure  and  satisfied  in  the  Act  of  Toleration,  which  she 
was  firmly  resolved  to  maintain ;"  and  that  those  who  had  the 
"  happiness  and  advantage  to  be  of  our  Church  might  rest  assured 
that  she  would  make  it  her  particular  care  to  encourage  and 
maintain  the  Church  in  all  its  just  rights  and  privileges,  and  so 
transmit  it  securely  settled  to  posterity."  * 

When  parliament  re-assembled,  in  1703,  the  rejected  "Occasional 
Conformity  Bill"  was  again  brought  into  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  passed  without  any  considerable  opposition,  but  was  again 
rejected  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

In  the  same  year,  the  Queen,  on  her  birthday,  showed  her 
devoted  attachment  to  the  Church  of  England  by  making  a  grant 
of  her  whole  revenue,  arising  out  of  the  first-fruits  and  tenths,  for 
augmenting  the  livings  of  the  poorer  clergy.  These  first-fruits 
and  tenths  amounted  to  about  £16,000  a  year,  and,  in  the  time  of 
Charles  II.  had  been  distributed  chiefly  among  his  concubines  and 
*  Life  of  Queen  Anne,  London,  1721. 


AGE  41.]  CONVOCATION,  261 

his  illegitimate  children.  There  were  now  hundreds  of  clergy- 
men whose  livings  were  not  worth  more  than  £20  a  year,  and 
thousands  whose  livings  did  not  exceed  £50  a  year.  Of  course, 
the  Queen  was  well  nigh  overwhelmed  with  addresses,  thanking 
her  for  her  royal  bounty,  and  it  was  difficult  to  tell  whether  she 
was  prouder  of  the  title  "Queen  of  England,"  than  she  was  of 
"  Nursing-mother  to  the  Church."  This  tender  care  for  poor 
ministers,  however,  did  not  extend  to  other  sects  of  the  Protestant 
communion  ;  for,  just  at  the  same  time,  this  royal  benefactress 
allowed  the  Irish  Parliament  to  stop  the  paltry  grant  of  £1200 
per  annum,  which  had  been  paid  to  the  poor  Presbyterian  ministers 
in  Ulster  in  the  reign  of  her  predecessor,  King  William. 

In  1704,  the  "Occasional  Conformity  Bill"  was  a  third  time 
introduced  into  the  House  of  Commons,  though  there  was 
still  not  the  slightest  chance  of  its  passing  in  the  House  of 
Lords. 

In  the  year  following,  Lord  Halifax  moved,  in  the  Upper  House, 
that  a  day  might  be  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  "  Dangers  of 
the  Church,"  it  being  alleged  that  the  rejection  of  the  "Occasional 
Conformity  Bill"  was  likely  to  ruin  both  Church  and  State,  and 
especially  when  this  was  coupled  with  the  liberty  of  the  press  and 
the  licence  of  the  times,  wherein  no  restraint  was  laid  upon  those 
who  vilified  the  established  religion.  Both  Houses  of  Parliament, 
however,  passed  a  resolution,  to  the  effect,  that  the  Church  of 
England  was  in  a  most  safe  and  flourishing  condition,  and  the 
Queen  ordered  a  proclamation  to  be  issued  accordingly. 

All  this  created  great  excitement,  which  will  have  to  be  more 
fully  noticed  in  another  chapter.  At  present,  we  can  only  add 
that,  in  1712,  an  act  was  passed  by  parliament,  to  the  effect,  that, 
if  any  person  holding  public  office  should  attend  a  conventicle,  at 
which  more  than  ten  persons  were  assembled,  he  should  be  fined 
£40,  and  should  be  adjudged  incapable  henceforth  to  hold  such 
office,  or  any  other  office  or  employment  whatsoever,  unless  he 
conformed  to  the  Church  of  England  for  one  year  without  being 
present  at  any  conventicle,  and  received,  during  that  year,  the 
holy  sacrament  at  least  three  times. 

This  intolerant  Act  of  Parliament  was  followed  by  another  of  a 
kindred  kind,  in  1714,  the  year  of  Queen  Anne's  decease — "  An 
Act  to  prevent  the  growth  of  schism,  and  for  the  further  security  of 
the  Churches  of  England  and  Ireland,  as  by  law  established."     By 


262  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l703. 

this  statute,  it  was  enacted  that,  if  any  person  dared  to  keep  any 
public  or  private  school  without  subscribing  a  declaration  to  the 
effect  that  he  would  conform  to  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  without  obtaining  a  licence  from  the  ordinary  of  the 
place,  such  person,  on  conviction,  should  be  committed  to  the 
common  gaol  for  three  months.  The  same  penalty  was  to  be 
inflicted  upon  a  person  who  had  duly  qualified  himself  for  the 
office  of  schoolmaster,  and  had  obtained  the  necessary  licence,  if 
he  dared  to  be  present  at  any  conventicle  where  prayer  was  not 
offered  for  Queen  Anne.  * 

This  was  a  fitting  wind  up  of  the  reign  of  an  ecclesiastical, 
though  well-intentioned  bigot.  Anne  was  seized  with  apoplexy 
on  the  28th  of  July  1714,  and  four  days  afterwards  died,  without 
being  able  either  to  receive  the  sacrament  or  to  sign  her  will. 
This  princess  was  remarkable  neither  for  learning  nor  capacity, 
and  yet  "she  was,"  says  John  Wesley,  "a  good  wife,  a  tender 
mother,  a  warm  friend,  an  indulgent  mistress,  a  munificent 
patron,  and  a  merciful  monarch  ;  for,  during  her  whole  reign,  no 
subjects'  blood  was  shed  for  treason.  In  a  word,  if  she  was  not 
the  greatest  she  was  certainly  one  of  the  best  and  most  unblemished 
sovereigns  that  ever  sat  upon  the  throne  of  England ;  and  well 
deserved  the  expressive,  though  simple,  epithet  of  '  The  good 
Queen  Anne.'  "  f 

Great  efforts  were  made,  during  the  reign  of  Anne,  to  multiply 
churches,  but,  at  the  same  time,  there  was  an  enormous  increase 
of  places  of  public  resort  and  public  discussion.  Club-houses, 
chocolate-houses,  and  coffee-houses  became  so  numerous  that, 
besides  the  large  ones,  there  was  one  or  more  for  almost  every  parish 
in  the  capital,  in  which  citizens  regaled  themselves  to  their  hearts' 
content,  and  found  fault  with  the  management  of  public  matters. 
On  entering  a  coffee-house,  the  visitor  had  only  to  pay  a  penny  at 
the  bar,  and  for  this  he  was  not  only  served  with  a  cup  of  coffee, 
but  accommodated  with  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  and  with  the 
newest  pamphlets  on  morals  and  on  politics.  Tradesmen  forsook 
their  shops,  and  merchants  their  offices,  to  take  care  of  the  affairs 
of  state,  and  to  harangue  upon  the  misconduct  of  the  ministry, 
until,  by  neglecting  their  business,  those  oratorical  financiers  and 
disinterested  patriots  were,  not  unfrequently,  seized  by  an  am- 
bushment  of  bumbailiffs,  and,  after  having  defrayed  the  debts  of 
*  Life  of  Queen  Anne,  f  Wesley's  History  of  England. 


AGE  41.]  CONVOCATION.  263 

the  nation,  were  ignominiously  conducted  to  a  sponging-house  for 
not  being  able  to  pay  their  own. 

While  the  middle  and  the  lower  classes  were  thus  discussing 
politics,  the  fashionable  orders  were  devoted  to  pleasure  and  to 
gallantry.  From  ten  to  twelve  the  beau  received  his  visitors  in  bed, 
where  he  lay  in  state,  his  periwig,  superbly  powdered,  lying  beside 
liim  on  the  sheets ;  while  his  toilet-table  was  sprinkled  with  amo- 
rous poems,  a  canister  of  Spanish  snuff,  a  smelling  bottle,  and  a 
few  fashionable  trinkets.  At  twelve  he  rose,  and  after  spending 
three  hours  in  perfuming  his  clothes,  in  soaking  his  hands  in  washes 
to  make  them  delicate  and  white,  in  tinging  his  cheeks  with  car- 
minative to  give  them  a  gentle  blush,  in  dipping  his  handkerchief 
in  rose  water,  and  in  powdering  his  linen  to  banish  from  it  the 
smell  of  soap — the  self-indulgent  exquisite  then  sat  down  to  dinner. 
At  four  o'clock,  he  repaired  to  some  place  of  public  concourse, 
where  he  endeavoured  to  display  his  gallantry  and  wit.  At  five, 
he  proceeded  to  the  theatre,  where,  to  give  himself  the  air  of  a  critic, 
he  readjusted  his  cravat,  and  sprinkled  his  face  with  snuff.  Trom 
the  theatre  he  would  wander  to  the  park,  buzzing  and  fluttering 
from  lady  to  lady,  and  chattering  to  each  a  jargon  made  up  of 
bad  English,  atrocious  French,  and  undistinguishable  Latin.  And 
then,  his  lounge  in  the  park  being  ended,  he  concluded  the  day 
by  dropping  into  some  fashionable  party,  where  he  chatted  his 
empty  nothings,  played  at  ombre,  and  lost  his  money  with  an  air 
of  fashionable  indifierence. 

Besides  these  fashionable  beaus,  there  were  those  who,  in  the 
language  of  the  day,  were  called  bully-beaus, — fellows  figuring  in 
Kamillies'  perukes,  laced  hats,  black  cockades,  and  scarlet  suits  ; 
and  who  maintained  a  reputation  for  courage,  by  empty  swagger 
and  violent  assaults  on  the  peaceable  members  of  society.  These 
gallants,  instead  of  confining  their  follies  and  their  fopperies 
within  the  compass  of  the  metropolis,  very  often  made  country 
excursions  to  bamboozle  fox-hunting  squires,  and  to  make  love  to 
their  unsophisticated  daughters.  The  fair  rustics  were  dazzled  by 
the  surpassing  finery  of  such  manners,  dress,  and  speech ;  while 
young  clod-poll  squires  were  set  agog  to  emulate  the  captivating 
visitor.  In  this  way  many  a  youth,  whose  gayest  party  had  been 
a  country  wake,  was  translated  into  a  London  fop.  As  soon  as 
his  father  had  broken  his  neck  over  a  six-barred  gate,  or  fairly 
drunk  himself  into  his  coffin,  the  rustic  aspirant  turned  his  back 


264  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l703. 

on  the  old  mansion  of  his  progenitors,  and  hied  to  London,  dressed 
in  his  best  leathern  breeches  tied  at  the  knee  with  red  taffeta,  his 
new  blue  jacket,  and  his  fashionable  greatcoat,  both  adorned  with 
buttons  of  the  orthodox  size  and  shape.  Bully-beaus  and  sharpers 
took  him  into  training ;  tailors,  silk-mercers,  and  cabinetmakers 
hastened  to  his  levees  ;  whilst  prize-fighters,  horse-racers,  fiddlers, 
and  dancing-masters,  pimps  and  parasites,  soon  transformed  a 
raw  country  bumpkin  into  a  finished  gentleman  of  town. 

Besides  the  fashionable  and  bully-beaus,  already  mentioned,  there 
were  the  Darby-Captains,  the  Tash-Captains,  the  Cock-and-bottle 
Captains,  and  the  Nickers.  But  of  all  the  turbulent  characters 
of  the  period,  none  were  so  distinguished  as  the  Mohocks.  These 
fellows,  after  drinking  to  an  outrageous  extent  to  qualify  them- 
selves for  action,  would  rush  into  the  streets  with  drawn  swords, 
cutting,  stabbing,  and  carbonading  all  the  unlucky  persons  that 
happened  to  cross  their  path.  Sometimes  they  "tipped  the  lion" 
on  their  victim,  that  is,  flattened  his  nose  and  gouged  out  his 
eyes  ;  sometimes  they  were  "  dancing-masters,"  because  they  made 
people  cut  capers  by  thrusting  swords  into  their  legs ;  and  some- 
times they  were  "  tumblers,"  because  they  would  place  a  woman 
topsy-turvy  upon  her  head,  or  tumble  her  into  an  empty  barrel, 
and  send  it  rolling  down  Snow  Hill,  Kightly  were  they  desig- 
nated "  Mohocks,"  for  they  out-did  the  atrocities  of  the  tribe  of 
Indian  savages  whose  name  they  used. 

But  leaving  the  male,  look  for  a  moment  at  the  female  sex.  A 
fashionable  lady  in  the  days  of  Queen  Anne  was  thought  to  be 
learned  enough  if  she  could  barely  read  and  write.  If  she  could 
finish  a  letter  without  notorious  bad  spelling,  she  might  pass  for 
a  wit.  She  plunged  into  all  the  amusements  of  the  day  with  an 
intensity  proportioned  to  her  lack  of  moral  and  intellectual 
resources.  A  whirl  of  daily  varieties  was  necessary  to  occupy 
the  emptiness  of  her  mind.  She  dashed  over  the  town,  upon  a 
round  of  visiting,  in  a  carriage  with  four  laced  and  powdered 
footmen  behind  it.  When  she  was  obliged  to  stay  at  home,  she 
regaled  herself  with  frequent  libations  of  tea,  sometimes  qualified 
with  brandy.  When  her  female  friends  dropped  in,  the  scandal 
of  the  day  commenced,  and  reputations  were  torn  to  tatters. 
When  she  held  'her  levees,  the  dashing  rake  and  notorious  profli- 
gate had  free  access,  and  the  lewd  jest  scarcely  raised  the  fan  to 
a  single  check.     It  was  unfashionable  to  be  religious ;  and  if  a 


AGE  41.]  CONVOCATION  265 

lady  of  ton  went  to  church,  it  Avas  to  see  company  and  to  deal 
courtesies  from  her  pew.  She  patronised  French  milliners,  French 
hairdressers,  and  Italian  Opera  singers.  She  loved  tall  footmen 
and  turbaned  negro  footboys.  She  doated  upon  monkeys,  paro- 
quets, and  lap-dogs  ;  was  a  perfect  critic  in  old  China  and  Indian 
trinkets  ;  and  could  not  exist  without  a  rafHe  or  a  sale. 

The  manners  of  high  life  being  thus  frivolous  and  depraved,  no 
wonder  that  servants  were  neither  wiser  nor  better  than  their 
employers.  Complaints  were  universal  of  the  arrogance,  dis- 
honesty, laziness,  and  luxury  of  valets  and  footmen  ;  whilst  charges 
against  pert,  mercenary,  intriguing  Abigails  were  equally  loud  and 
numerous.  Their  cleverness,  to  a  great  extent,  consisted  in  obtain- 
ing the  largest  wages  for  the  smallest  services. 

o  o  O 

Such  a  condition  of  the  national  character  was  a  fruitful  soil 
for  superstition  and  credulity.  Almost  every  old  mansion  was  still 
ghost-haunted,  and  almost  every  parish  was  tormented  by  a  witch. 
Fortune-telling  was  a  common  and  thriving  occupation ;  and 
quack-doctors  were,  if  possible,  still  more  numerous  than  astro- 
logers. 

The  country  gentlemen  cultivated  their  paternal  acres,  watched 
with  almost  Druidical  reverence  the  safety  of  their  ancient  oaks,  and 
were  members  of  the  worshipful  quorum.  On  Sundays,  they  repaired 
to  the  village  church,  through  a  lane  of  uncovered  and  bowing 
peasantry ;  ascended  "  the  squire's  pew,"  the  chief  seat  in  the 
synagogue,  and  edified  their  tenantry  by  the  loudness  of  their 
responses.  At  Christmas,  a  multitude  of  fattened  hogs  were 
slaughtered  and  distributed  among  the  neighbours  ;  while  a  string 
of  black  puddings  and  a  pack  of  cards  were  sent  to  every  poor 
family  in  the  parish.  A  large  portion  of  these  rustic  squires  were 
fox-hunters,  and  appear,  for  the  most  part,  to  have  been  as  unin- 
tellectual  as  the  horses  they  galloped,  or  the  animals  they  chased ; 
for  their  proudest  exploit  was  to  clear  a  six-barred  gate,  and  their 
highest  ambition  to  secure  a  dead  fox's  brush  for  the  adornment 
of  their  hunting  caps. 

Their  wives  were  quiet,  domestic  drudges,  with  scarcely  enough 
of  education  to  keep  their  book  of  household  expenses,  or  to  spell 
correctly  the  receipt  of  a  new  home-made  wine,  or  of  an  improved 
syllabub.  No  longer  thinking  it  the  great  business  of  life  to 
embroider  cushions  and  coverlets,  they  commonly  settled  down 
into  the  character  of  a  Lady  Bountiful,  and  occupied  themselves 


266  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l703. 

in  supplying  the  poor  of  their  viHages  with  money,  the  industrious 
with  work,  the  idle  with  counsel,  the  vicious  with  rebuke,  and 
the  sick  with  medicines  and  with  cordials.  In  this  last  depart- 
ment, many  of  them  became  so  presumptuous  that  no  ailment 
was  too  hard  for  them,  from  a  toothache  to  a  pestilence,  from  the 
stroke  of  a  cudgel  to  that  of  a  thunderbolt. 

Their  sons  were  taught  a  little  Latin  and  less  Greek,  beaten 
into  them,  either  at  one  of  the  public  establishments  or  by  the 
thwackem  of  a  domestic  schoolroom.  When  they  had  been  whip- 
ped through  the  parts  of  speech,  interjections  and  all,  and  driven 
through  a  few  fragmentary  portions  of  the  classics,  they  were  then 
qualified  to  shine  equally  in  the  senate  or  at  the  masquerade.  The 
grand  finish  to  such  an  education  was  the  tour  of  Europe ;  and 
forth  went  the  boy  accordingly,  in  leading  strings,  to  gaze  at 
streets,  mountains,  rivers,  and  trees  ;  and  to  pick  up,  in  his  ram- 
bles, the  fashions,  frivolities,  and  vices  of  the  countries  through 
which  he  passed. 

Their  peasantry  still  presented  much  the  same  rude  simplicity 
which  had  characterised  the  poorer  classes  for  the  last  hundred 
years.  Rural  education  had  undergone  little,  if  any,  improve- 
ment ;  and  the  monotonous  toils  of  daily  life  were  enlivened,  chiefly, 
by  wakes  and  fairs,  thronged  with  puppet-shows,  pedlars  stalls, 
raffling-tables,  and  drinking-booths. 

Such  is  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  general  state  of  English  society 
at  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century.* 

[The  facts  in  this  chapter  have  been  gathered  principally  from  Knight's  Pic- 
torial History,  Macaulay's  History,  Burnet's  History  of  His  Own  Times,  Lathbury's 
History  of  Convocation,  the  Tatler,  the  Spectator,  &c.] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

DISASTEKS  AND   DISSENTERS. — 1702-1705. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Mr  Wesley  was  seriously  involved  in 
debt.  During  his  attendance  at  convocation  he  seems  to  have 
received  considerable  assistance.  In  a  letter  to  Archbishop  Sharpe, 
dated  August  7,  1702,  he  mentions  several  sums  which  he  had 
received  from  eminent  persons :  the  Dean  of  Exeter,  £]  0 ;  Dr 
Stanley,  £10;  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  £10,  10s.;  and,  he 
adds  : — "  Even  my  lord  Marquis  of  Normanby,  by  my  good  lady's 
solicitations  succeeding  your  Grace's,  did  verily  and  indeed,  with 
his  own  hand,  give  me  twenty  guineas,  and  my  lady  five.  With 
these  and  other  sums  I  made  up  about  £60,  and  came  home  joyful 
enough, — thanked  God, — paid  as  many  debts  as  I  could, — quieted 
the  rest  of  my  creditors, — took  the  management  of  my  house  into 
my  own  hands, — and  had  ten  guineas  left  to  take  my  harvest."  * 

What  is  meant  by  the  last  sentence  but  one,  I  hardly  know.  It 
is  difficult  to  regard  it  as  a  reflection  on  the  household  management 
of  his  wife.  Probably,  on  account  of  his  wife's  feeble  health,  his 
domestic  matters  had  been  managed  by  his  servant ;  but,  be  that 
as  it  might,  the  rector  now,  perhaps  unwisely,  took  the  manage- 
ment himself. 

Still,  however,  the  current  of  life  was  far  from  flowing  smoothly. 
Soon  after  the  removal  from  the  miserable  hut  at  South  Ormsby 
to  the  spacious  parsonage  at  Epworth,  the  rector's  barn  fell  down, 
and  had  to  be  rebuilt;  and  now,  on  July  31st,  1702,  another  dis- 
aster occurred,  which  was  more  serious  than  the  former. 

Mr  Wesley  shall  tell  his  own  story  in  the  letter  to  Archbishop 
Sharpe  already  quoted.  He  writes  : — "  On  the  last  of  July  ]  702, 
a  fire  broke  out  in  my  house,  by  some  sparks  which  took  hold  of 
the  thatch,  and  consumed  about  two-thirds  of  it  before  it  could 

♦  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


268  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l703. 

be  quenched.  I  was  at  the  lower  end  of  the  town  visiting  a  sick 
person,  and  went  thence  to  R.  Cogan's.  As  I  was  returning,  they 
brought  me  the  news.  I  got  one  of  his  horses,  rode  up,  and 
heard,  by  the  way,  that  my  wife,  children,  and  books  were  saved ; 
for  which  God  be  praised,  as  well  as  for  what  He  has  taken. 
They  were  all  together  in  my  study,  and  the  fire  under  them. 
When  it  broke  out,  Mrs  Wesley  got  two  of  the  children  in  her 
arms,  and  ran  through  the  smoke  and  fire  ;  but  one  of  them  was 
left  in  the  hurry,  till  the  other  cried  for  her,  when  the  neighbours 
ran  in,  and  got  her  out  through  the  fire,  as  they  did  my  books, 
and  most  of  my  goods ;  this  very  paper  among  the  rest,  which  I 
afterwards  found,  as  I  was  looking  over  what  was  saved. 

"  I  find  it  is  some  happiness  to  have  been  miserable,  for  my 
mind  has  been  so  blunted  with  former  misfortunes,  that  this 
scarce  made  any  impression  upon  me.  I  shall  go  on,  by  God's 
assistance,  to  take  my  tithe ;  and,  when  that  is  in,  to  rebuild  my 
house,  havingj  at  last,  crowded  my  family  into  what  is  left,  and 
not  missing  many  of  my  goods. 

"  I  humbly  ask  your  Grace's  pardon  for  this  long,  melancholy 
story,  and  leave  to  subscribe  myself  your  Grace's  ever  obliged  and 
most  humble  servant,  S.  Wesley." 

It  is  a  somewhat  singular  circumstance  that  the  sheet  of  paper 
on  which  this  letter  was  written,  was  one  on  which  he  had  begun 
a  letter  to  the  archbishop  six  days  before  the  fire  broke  out. 
About  four  square  inches  of  the  lower  corner  of  the  fly-leaf  was 
burnt,  and  the  whole  was  stained  by  the  water  that  helped  to  put 
out  the  flames. 

The  good  archbishop,  to  whom  this  account  was  sent,  came  for- 
ward both  with  his  purse  and  influence ;  and  this  produced  the 
following  touching  and  characteristic  letter : — 

"  Epworth,  March  20,  1703. 
"  My  Lord, — I  have  heard  that  all  great  men  have  the  art  of 
forgetfulness,  but  never  found  it  in  such  perfection  as  in  your 
lordship  :  only  it  is  in  a  different  way  from  others  ;  for  most  for- 
get ih.exv  promises,  but  your  Grace  those  benefits  you  have  con- 
ferred. I  am  pretty  confident  your  Grace  neither  reflects  on,  nor 
imagines  how  much  you  have  done  for  me ;  nor  what  sums  I 
have  received  by  your  lordship's  bounty  and  favour;    without 


AGE  41.]  DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTEES.  269 

which  I  had  been,  ere  this,  moulding  in  a  jail,  and  sunk  a  thou- 
sand fathoms  below  nothing. 

"  Will  your  Grace  permit  me  to  show  you  an  account  of  some 
of  them  ? 

"From  the  Marchioness  of  Normanby,   .         .       £20     0  0 

The  Lady  Northampton  (I  think),         .         ,         20     0  0 

Duke  of  Buckingham  and  Duchess,  2  years  since,  26  17  6 

The  Queen, 43     0  0 

The  Bishop  of  Sarum  (Bishop  Burnett),        .         40     0  0 

The  Archbishop  of  York,  at  least  .         .         10     0  0 

Besides  lent  to  (almost)  a  desperate  debtor,  .         25     0  0 


£184  17     6 


"  A  frightful  sum,  if  one  saw  it  all  together ;  but  it  is  beyond 
thanks,  and  I  must  never  hope  to  perform  that,  as  I  ought,  till 
another  world ;  where,  if  I  get  first  into  the  harbour,  I  hope  none 
shall  go  before  me  in  welcoming  your  lordship  into  everlasting 
habitations ;  where  you  will  be  no  more  tired  with  my  follies,  nor 
concerned  at  my  misfortunes.  However,  I  may  pray  for  your 
Grace  while  I  have  breath,  and  that  for  something  nobler  than 
this  world  can  give  ;  it  is  for  the  increase  of  God's  favour,  of  the 
light  of  His  countenance,  and  of  the  foretaste  of  those  joys,  the 
firm  belief  whereof  can  oilly  support  us  in  this  weary  wilderness. 
And,  if  it  be  not  too  bold  a  request,  I  beg  your  Grace  would  not 
forget  me,  though  it  be  but  in  your  prayer  for  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men ;  among  whom,  as  none  has  been  more  obliged  to 
your  Grace,  so,  I  am  sure,  none  ought  to  have  a  deeper  sense  of 
it  than  your  Grace's  most  dutiful  and  most  humble  servant, 

"  S.  Wesley." 

To  a  man  with  a  large  family,  and  who,  if  not  at  present,  had 
recently  been  £300  in  debt,  the  burning  of  his  house  was  a  dire 
disaster ;  but,  alas  !  Samuel  Wesley's  calamities  did  not  end  with 
this.  During  the  winter  of  1704,  which  was  very  shortly  after 
the  rebuilding  of  his  house,  another  fire  broke  out,  and  burnt  the 
whole  of  his  flax ;  and,  five  years  after  that,  a  third  fire  utterly 
destroyed  his  recently  re-erected  rectory.  But  these  are  facts 
which,  in  chronological  order,  will  have  to  be  noticed  anon. 

In  the  year  1703,  a  small  pamphlet  was  published,  entitled,  "A 


270  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l703. 

Letter  from  a  Country  Divine  to  liis  Friend  in  London,  concern- 
ing the  Education  of  Dissenters  in  their  Private  Academies  in 
several  parts  of  this  Nation  :  Humbly  offered  to  the  consideration 
of  the  Grand  Committee  of  Parliament  for  Religion,  now  sitting. 
London,  1703,"  4to.,  pp.  15.*  Samuel  Wesley  was  the  writer  of 
this  letter ;  but  it  was  printed  without  either  his  consent  or  know- 
ledge ;  and,  as  it  led  to  a  serious,  prolonged,  and  ill-natured  con- 
troversy, it  behoves  us  to  examine  its  history. 

Up  to  the  time  that  Mr  Wesley  went  to  Oxford  University,  he 
was  a  Nonconformist,  the  child,  and  the  grandchild  of  expelled 
Nonconformist  ministers,  and  a  student  trained  in  Nonconformist 
academies,  and  having  none  but  Nonconformist  acquaintances. 
His  life  at  Oxford  was  retired,  and,  therefore,  not  likely  to  make 
him  many  friends  of  another  description.  On  his  return  to  Lon- 
don, in  1688,  he  not  only  kept  up  a  friendship  with  some  of  his 
old  Dissenting  associates,  but  also  began  to  become  acquainted 
with  several  gentlemen  of  the  Church  of  England.  One  of  these, 
knowing  that  Wesley  had  been  educated  in  a  Dissenting  academy, 
izealously,  if  not  wisely,  urged  him  to  write  an  account  of  the 
inner  life  of  such  establishments.  For  some  time  Wesley  resisted 
this  request ;  but  at  length  a  circumstance  happened  which  led 
him  to  comply.  He  tells  us  that  he  went,  with  some  of  his  Dis- 
senting acquaintances,  to  a  Dissenting  festival,  held  in  a  house  in 
Leadeuhall  Street.  The  discourse  of  these  festiye  Dissenters  was 
so  fulsome,  profane,  and  lewd,  that  he  was  not  able  to  endure  it. 
In  a  little  while  they  sat  down  to  supper,  and  now  they  all  began 
to  rail  against  monarchy,  and  to  blaspheme  the  memory  of  King 
Charles  the  martyr.  These  proceedings  convinced  Wesley  that  his 
old  friends,  who  some  years  before  had  prompted  him  to  "  dabble 
in  rhyming  lampoons  both  on  Church  and  State,"  were  as  dis- 
affected and  disloyal  as  ever.  He  felt  disgusted,  and  leaving  the 
room,  he  went  home,  and,  before  he  slept,  wrote  the  letter,  which 
was  published  some  twelve  or  thirteen  years  afterwards. 

But  here  we  must  pause.  The  festival,  at  which  Wesley  was 
present,  was  the  anniversary  of  the  notorious  Calves-head  Club, 
and  a  brief  account  of  that  infamous  fraternity  seems  need- 
ful. 

*  This  is  taken  from  Clarke's  Wesley  Family  ;  but  it  seems  to  be  a  mistake  to 
say  that  the  letter  consisted  of  15  pages.  The  third  edition,  published  by  Clavel, 
in  1706,  is  now  before  us,  and  consists  of  only  8  pages  4to. 


AGE  41.]  DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTERS.  271 

In  the  British  Museum,  there  is  a  small  quarto  pamphlet  of 
twenty-two  pages,  entitled  "  The  Secret  History  of  the  Calves-head 
Club ;  or.  The  Republican  Unmasked :  Wherein  is  fully  shown 
the  religion  of  the  Calves-head  heroes,  in  their  anniversary  thanks- 
giving songs,  on  the  30th  January,  by  them  called  anthems,  for 
the  years  1693  to  1697  ;  now  published  to  demonstrate  the  rest- 
less, implacable  spirit  of  a  certain  party  still  among  us,  who  are 
never  to  be  satisfied,  till  the  present  establishment  in  Church  and 
State  is  subverted.  London  :  Printed  and  sold  by  the  booksellers 
of  London  and  Westminster,  1703."  From  that  pamphlet  the 
following  particulars  are  taken  : — 

The  preface  states,  that,  "  the  poems,  or  ribaldry,  and  trash  fol- 
lowing were  composed  and  set  to  music  for  the  use  of  the  Calves- 
head  Club,  which  was  erected  by  an  impudent  set  of  people,  who 
have  their  feasts  of  calves'  heads,  in  several  parts  of  the  town,  on 
the  30th  of  January,  in  derision  of  that  day,  and  in  defiance  of 
monarchy ;  at  divers  of  which  meetings  the  following  compositions 
were  sung,  and  which,  in  affront  of  the  Church,  were  called  an- 
thems." 

The  preface  then  descants  on  the  persecutions  and  indignities 
suffered  by  King  Charles  I.,  and  states  that,  "  of  all  the  indignities 
offered  to  the  manes  of  the  injured  prince,  nothing  equals  the  in- 
humanity and  profaneness  of  the  Calves-head  Club." 

It  further  alleges  : — "  That  Milton  and  some  other  creatures  of 
the  commonwealth  had  instituted  this  club,  in  opposition  to  Bishop 
Juxon,  Dr  Sanderson,  Dr  Hammond,  and  other  divines  of  the 
Church  of  England,  who  met  privately  every  30th  of  January, 
and,  though  it  was  during  the  time  of  the  usurpation,  compiled  a 
private  form  of  service  for  the  day,  not  much  different  from  what 
we  now  find  in  the  Liturgy." 

It  is  stated  further,  that  "  after  the  Restoration,  the  eyes  of  the 
Government  being  upon  the  whole  (Calves-head)  party,  they  were 
obliged  to  meet  with  a  great  deal  of  precaution  ;  but  now,  in  the 
second  year  of  the  reign  of  King  William,  they  meet  almost  in  a 
public  manner,  and  apprehend  nothing." 

"  A  gentleman,  about  eight  years  ago,  went  out  of  mere  curio- 
sity to  see  theii^  cbib,  which  was  kept  at  no  fixed  house,  but  re- 
moved as  they  saw  convenient.  The  place  they  met  in,  when  he 
was  with  them,  was  in  a  blind  alley  about  Moorfields  ;  and  the 
company  wholly  consisted  of  Independents  and  Anabaptists.    The 


272  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l703. 

famous  Jerry  White,  formerly  chaplain  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  who, 
no  doubt,  came  to  sanctify  with  his  pious  exhortations  the  ribaldry 
of  the  day,  said  grace.  After  the  table-cloth  was  removed,  the 
anniversary  anthem,  as  they  impiously  called  it,  was  sung,  and  a 
calf's  head  filled  with  wine,  or  other  liquor,  was  placed  before  the 
company.  Then  a  brimmer  went  about  to  the  pious  memory  of 
those  worthy  patriots  that  had  killed  the  tyrant,  and  had  delivered 
the  country  from  his  arbitrary  sway ;  and,  last  of  all,  a  collection 
was  made  for  the  mercenary  scribbler,  who  had  composed  the 
anthem,  to  which  every  man  contributed  according  to  his  zeal  for 
the  cause,  or  the  ability  of  his  purse." 

Such  are  the  principal  statements  contained  in  the  edition  of 
this  curious  and  scarce  pamphlet,  published  in  1703  ;  but,  in  an- 
other edition,  published  two  years  afterwards,  it  is  added  :  "  That 
an  axe  was  hung  up  in  the  club  room ;  and  that  the  bill  of  fare 
was  a  large  dish  of  calves'-heads  dressed  in  divers  ways,  a  large 
pike  with  a  small  one  in  his  mouth  as  an  emblem  of  tyranny,  a 
large  cod's  head  to  represent  the  person  of  the  king,  and  a  boar's 
head  with  an  apple  in  its  mouth  to  represent  the  king's  bestiality. 
After  the  repast,  one  of  the  elders  of  the  club  presented  an  Eikon 
Basilike,  which,  with  great  solemnity,  was  burnt  upon  the  table 
whilst  the  anthem  was  being  sung ;  and  then  another  elder  pro- 
duced Milton's  '  Defensio  Populi  Anglicani,'  upon  which  all  laid 
their  hands,  and  made  a  protestation,  in  form  of  an  oath,  for  ever 
to  stand  by  and  to  maintain  it." 

The  anthems  for  the  years  1G93  to  ]  697,  inclusive,  are  then 
given  in  the  pamphlet,  and  contain  some  things  which  it  would  be 
criminal  to  reprint.  We  subjoin  the  least  objectionable  specimens 
that  we  can  give. 

The  anthem  for  1693  consists  of  five  verses  of  eight  lines  each, 
with  a  chorus.  The  following  lines  are  taken  from  the  third  and 
fourth  verses  ; — 

"  Triumphant  laurels  too  must  crown  that  head, 

Whose  righteous  hand  struck  England's  tyrant  dead ; 
The  heroes  too,  adorn'd  with  blood  and  sweat, 
Who  forced  the  opposing  monster  to  retreat. 

"  'Tis  force  must  pull  the  lawless  tyrant  down  ; 
But  give  men  knowledge,  and  the  priest  'a  undone ; 
In  vain  he  whines,  in  vain  he  cants  and  prays, 
There  's  not  a  man  believes  one  word  he  says." 


AGE  41.]  DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTERS.  273 

The  following  infamous  lines  are  taken  from  the  anthem  for 
1694.  After  describing  the  "fall  of  the  tyrant,"  and  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  nation,  and  their  own  celebration  of  the  event,  those 
bacchanalian  revellers  are  made  to  sing : — 

"  Then  fill  the  calf's  cranium  to  a  health  so  divine, 
The  cause,  the  old  cause,  shall  ennoble  our  wine  ; 
Charge  briskly  around,  fill  it  up,  fill  it  full, 
'Tis  the  last  and  best  service  of  a  tyrannical  skull. 

Then  to  puss,  boys,  to  puss,  boys. 

Let 's  drink  it  off  thus,  boys,"  &c. 

The  anthem  for  1695  consists  of  five  verses  ;  the  first,  the  second, 
and  the  fourth  verses  are  too  profane  and  lewd  to  be  reproduced. 
The  following  are  the  third  and  fifth.  After  describing  the  people 
hurrying  to  Church  on  the  30th  of  January,  and  asking  what  is 
meant  by  it,  the  foul-mouthed  members  sing : — 

"  Oh  !  sir,  it  is  a  debt  they  say, 
Mother  Church  must  yearly  pay 

To  her  saints'  canonisation  ; 
It  is  the  day  in  which  he  fell, 
A  martyr  to  the  cause  of  hell, 

Justly  crown'd  with  decollation. 

"  May  the  banish'd  Tarquins'  *  fate, 
Be  as  just,  but  not  so  great ; 

Some  mean  shameful  death  attend  him  r 
May  cursed  Lewis,  for  old  sores. 
Turn  him  poorly  out  of  doors  ; 

Then  may  some  friendly  halter  end  him." 

The  greater  part  of  the  anthem  for  1696  is  filthy  and  profane 
to  a  horrible  degree.  The  following  are  the  last  four  lines,  and 
the  least  exceptionable : — 

"  Oh  !  how  should  we  rejoice  and  pray,  and  never  cease  to  sing  a. 
If  bishops  too  were  chased  away,  and  banish'd  with  their  king  a, 
Then  peace  and  plenty  would  ensue,  our  beUies  would  be  full  a. 
The  enliven'd  isle  would  laugh  and  smile,  as  in  the  days  of  Noll  a." 

The  anthem  for  1697  consists  of  ten  verses.  The  following  are 
the  eighth  and  ninth  : — 

"  They  and  we  this  day  observing. 
Differ  only  in  one  thing, 
They  are  canting,  whining,  starving. 
We,  rejoicing,  drink  and  sing. 

*  James  II, 


27-4  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l703. 

"  Advance  the  emLlem  of  the  action  ! 
Fill  the  calf's  skull  full  of  wine  ; 
Drinking  ne'er  was  counted  faction, 
Men  and  gods  adore  the  vine.'' 

It  is  said  that  the  author  of  these  scurrilous  productions  was 
Benjamin  Bridgewater,  M.A.,  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
"  whose  genius,"  says  Dunton,  "  was  very  rich,  and  ran  much  upon 
poetry;  but,  alas  !  wine  and  love  were  his  ruin."  He  was  largely  re- 
warded by  the  Calves-head  Club  for  his  profane  and  lewd  effusions. 

Assuming  the  above  description  of  the  Calves-head  Club  to  be 
correct,  no  wonder  that  Samuel  Wesley  was  disgusted  with  its 
proceedings  ;  and,  though  this  perhaps  scarcely  justifies  the  writ- 
ing of  the  letter  which  was  published  in  1703,  yet,  it  is  some  ex- 
cuse for  it.  Wesley,  in  his  letter,  apologises  for  writing  against  a 
body  among  whom  he  was  educated,  to  whom  his  ancestors  be- 
longed, and  from  whom  he  had  received  many  personal  favours. 
He  declares  that  he  feels  no  enmity  against  the  party  he  had  left ; 
that  he  honoured  some  of  them,  and  pitied  others,  but  hated  none. 
He  states  that  his  purpose  is  to  relate  the  methods  used  by  Dis- 
senters to  j)ropagate  a  ministry  in  opposition  to  the  Established 
Church  ;  to  describe  what  kind  of  schools  and  colleges  they  had 
set  up,  to  supersede  the  necessity  of  going  to  the  universities ;  and 
to  show  how  these  were  maintained,  what  principles  they  taught, 
and  what  sort  of  arguments  they  used  to  confirm  their  pupils  in  their 
dissent,  and  to  hinder  them  from  going  over  to  the  communion  of 
the  Church. 

But  now,  it  may  be  asked,  why  was  Wesley's  letter;  after  the 
lapse  of  so  many  years,  given  to  the  public  in  a  printed  form  ?  It 
is  somewhat  difficult  to  answer  this ;  and  yet  there  are  certain 
facts  which  will  help  to  cast  light  upon  it.  In  1702,  King  Wil- 
liam died,  and  Queen  Anne,  the  patroness  of  the  High  Church 
party,  succeeded  to  the  throne.  The  Dissenters,  who,  for  the  last 
thirteen  years,  had  received  royal  favours,  were  now  the  objects  of 
royal  abhorrence.  Just  at  this  juncture,  Samuel  Wesley's  letter 
respecting  their  academies  was  published.  In  the  same  year, 
1703,  the  first  part  of  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion  was 
l^rinted,  and  dedicated  to  Queen  Anne.  In  the  dedication  occurs 
the  following  paragraph  : — "  What  can  be  the  meaning  of  the 
several  seminaries,  and,  as  it  were,  universities,  set  up  in  divers 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  by  more  tliau  ordinary  industry,  contrary  to 


AGE  41.]  DISASTEES  AND  DISSENTEES.  275 

law,  supported  by  large  contributions,  where  the  youth  is  bred 
up  in  principles  directly  contrary  to  monarchical  and  Episcopal 
government  ?  "What  can  be  the  meaning  of  the  constant  solem- 
nizing by  some  men,  the  anniversary  of  that  dismal  thirtieth  of 
January,  in  scandalous  and  opprobrious  feasting  and  jesting, 
which  the  law  of  the  land  hath  commanded  to  be  perpetually 
observed  in  fasting  and  humiliation  ?  It  is  humbly  submitted  to 
your  Majesty  whether  this  does  not  look  like  an  industrious  pro- 
pagation of  the  rebellious  principles  of  the  last  age,  and  whether 
it  is  not  necessary  that  your  Majesty  should  have  an  eye  toward 
such  unaccountable  proceedings  ?" 

In  1704,  a  second  part  of  Clarendon's  History  was  published, 
with  another  dedication  to  the  same  royal  patroness,  in  which,  in 
reference  to  the  Dissenters,  it  is  said : — "  Let  them  clear  them- 
selves of  that  they  were  lately  charged  with  before  your  Majesty, 
that  there  are  societies  of  them  which  celebrate  the  horrid  thir- 
tieth of  January,  with  an  execrable  solemnity  of  scandalous  mirth  ; 
and  that  they  have  seminaries,  and  a  sort  of  universities,  in  Eng- 
land, maintained  by  great  contributions,  where  the  fiercest  doc- 
trines against  monarchical  and  Episcopal  government  are  taught 
and  propagated,  and  where  they  bear  an  imj)lacable  hatred  to 
your  Majesty's  title,  name,  and  family." 

In  the  same  year  that  Samuel  Wesley's  letter  was  published. 
Queen  Anne  gave  her  first-fruits  and  tenths  for  augm.enting  the 
livings  of  the  poorer  clergy.  In  addition  to  this,  the  "  Occasional 
Conformity  Bill  "  was  passed  by  the  Commons  and  rejected  by  the 
Lords,  and  created  great  excitement  in  the  nation.  In  the  House 
of  Peers,  "Archbishop  Sharpe  said  he  apprehended  danger  from 
the  increase  of  Dissenters,  and  j)articularly  from  the  many 
academies  set  up  by  them,  and  moved  that  the  judges  might  be 
consulted  what  laws  were  in  force  against  such  seminaries,  and 
by  what  means  they  might  be  suppressed."* 

It  becomes  an  interesting  inquiry  to  ask  in  what  relation  Mr 
Wesley's  letter  stood  to  "  The  Secret  History  of  the  Calves-head 
Club,"  to  the  strong  language  used  in  the  dedicatory  preface  of 
Clarendon's  History  of  the  Eebellion,  to  the  bounty  of  Queen 
Anne,  to  the  "  Occasional  Conformity  Bill,"  and  to  the  speech  of 
his  faithful  and  afiectionate  friend.  Archbishop  Sharpe  ?  This  is 
a  question  which  we  cannot  answer,  but  that  his  letter  was  deemed 
*  Calamy's  Life  and  Times. 


276  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1703 

an  important  one  is  evident  from  the  attention  it  attracted,  and 
the  excitement  it  occasioned.* 

Most  of  the  facts  contained  in  Mr  Wesley's  letter  have  been 
already  given  in  the  third  and  fourth  chapters  of  this  work,  and 
hardly  anything  can  be  added  here. 

One  of  Wesley's  most  ofiensive  assertions  is  that  the  Dissenters 
are  "  a  sort  of  people  none  of  the  best-natured  in  the  v^^orld," 
though  he  admits  that  "  all  or  most  of  his  relations  and  acquaint- 
ances "  belong  to  that  denomination.  He  adds,  that,  he  was 
deterred  "  writing  lest  he  should  be  thought  ungrateful  to  those 
from  whom,  for  some  years,  he  received  his  bread  ;  and  also,  lest 
what  he  said  should  increase  existing  animosities."  He  says  he 
"  honours  some  of  the  Dissenters  and  pities  others,  without  hating 
any."  His  statements  must  have  been  galling  ;  but  we  are  bound 
to  say  there  is  no  appearance  of  an  acrimonious  spirit.  Had  his 
opponents  possessed  and  evinced  the  same  good-tempered  modera- 
tion, the  controversy  would  not  have  been  so  painful  and  discredit- 
able as  what  it  was. 

Samuel  Wesley's  first  and  chief  antagonist  was  Samuel  Palmer, 
an  Independent  minister  of  some  repute,  upon  whom  Dunton 
lavishes  the  highest  praise.  He  tells  us  that  he  was  educated  by 
Dr  Kerr,  and  pursued  his  studies  at  the  rate  of  seventeen  hours 
a-day  ;  that  his  temper  was  open  and  sincere,  and  that  he  abhorred 
all  trick  and  flattery ;  that  he  was  a  man  of  great  generosity,  very 
charitable,  and  very  humble  ;  that  he  never  courted  the  rich,  and 
was  always  ready  to  attend  the  poor  ;  that  he  preached  without 

*  Burnet,  in  his  History  of  Ills  Own  Time,  (folio  ed.,  vol.  ii.  ]}.  247,)  mentions 
some  other  important  facts  belonging  to  this  period.  He  says,  the  Dissenters  had 
quarrels  and  disputes  among  themselves.  The  Indepepdents  were  raising  the  old 
Autinomian  tenets,  and  the  Presbyterians  were  accusing  the  Baptists  of  giddiness. 
One  Asgil,  a  member  of  Parliament,  published  a  book  to  prove  that  since  believers 
recovered  in  Christ  all  that  they  lost  in  Adam,  they  are  now  rendered  immortal 
by  Christ,  and  not  liable  to  death.  George  Keith,  who,  for  thirty-six  years,  had 
been  the  most  learned  man  among  the  Quakers,  now  discovered  that  the  Quakers 
were  Deists,  and  treated  the  Christian  religion  as  allegorical ;  upon  which  he 
opened  a  new  meeting  to  convince  the  Quakers  of  their  errors;  and,  having  failed 
in  doing  so,  he  was  reconciled  to  the  Established  Church,  and  entered  into  holy 
orders.  The  clergy  also  were  much  divided.  Those  who  were  now  called  the 
High-Church  party,  had  all  along  expressed  a  coldness  to  the  present  settlement, 
and  now  began  to  complain  about  the  grievances  of  the  clergy,  and  the  danger 
the  Church  was  in.  Atterbury,  who  by  his  great  ability  and  eloquence,  had  be- 
come one  of  their  leaders,  attacked  the  supremacy  of  the  crown  in  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  and  the  hot  men  of  the  clergy  readily  entertained  his  notions. 


AGE  41.  J  DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTERS,  277 

notes,  and  that  his  delivery,  voice,  and  style  were  excellent ;  that 
he  took  great  pains  with  the  rising  generation,  and  that  his  cate- 
chetical lectures  were  plain,  easy,  and  full ;  that  he  was  well- 
beloved  by  all  the  clergy  and  gentlemen  of  the  Church  of  England 
who  knew  him,  and  that  he  was  well  skilled  in  law  and  politics — 

"  Sum  all  in  him  that's  good,  and  learn'd,  and  great, 
Place  him  in  learning's,  and  in  Bates'  seat ; 
He  shines  in  wit,  and  yet  is  so  sedate, 
•  That  none  can  equal,  best  but  imitate. 

In  Palmer  see,  in  Palmer  all  admire. 
What  nature,  books,  and  honour  can  inspire. 
Were  Wesley  but  impartial,  he  would  own 
His  learned  answer  lash'd  him  to  the  bone. 
A  better  vindication  none  could  write, 
Nor  any  satire  show  us  half  the  wit."  * 

Samuel  Palmer,  as  Dunton  intimates,  pursued  his  academical 
studies  under  Dr  Kerr,  a  gentleman  of  considerable  reputation  for 
classical  learning,  who  was  first  a  tutor  in  Ireland,  but  was  driven 
thence  by  the  tyranny  of  the  Earl  of  Tyrconnel,  and  then  settled 
at  Bethnal  Green,  where  he  met  with  great  encouragement,  and 
trained  several  Dissenting  ministers,  who  were  ornaments  to  reli- 
gion and  learning.     Palmer  entered  upon  the  ministry  at  Grave 
Lane  Chapel,  South wark,  in  1698.      His  first  two  publications 
were  his  replies  to  Wesley,  published  respectively  in  1703  and 
1705,  and  which  were  accormted  very  able  performances,  and  pro- 
cured the  author  considerable  reputation.     Within  a  year  or  two 
after  the  second  of  these  publications,  he,  like  Wesley,  left  the  Dis- 
senters, and  took  orders  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  had  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  living  of  Maiden  in  Essex.    It  is  said  that  this 
conversion  to  the  Church  of  England  arose  out  of  his  disappoint- 
ment at  not  being  rewarded  according  to  his  apprehended  merit 
for  his  pamphlets  against  Wesley.     It  is  further  said,  that,  after 
he  joined  the  Establishment,  he  grew  lax  in  his  morals  until  his 
conduct  became  scandalous.     We  are  not  informed  as  to  the  time 
and  place  of  his  decease;  but,  in  1710  he  published  an  octavo 
volume,  entitled  "  Moral  Essays,  founded  upon  English,  Scotch, 
and  Foreign  Proverbs."*}*     Such  was  Wesley's  principal  antagonist. 
Mr  Wesley's  letter  gave  the  Dissenters  great  offence,  but  the 
reader  must  not  forget  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was 

*  Dunton's  Life  and  Errors. 

t  History  of  Dissenting  Churches  in  London,  by  Wilson. 


278  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1703. 

written,  and  the  dishonourable  way  in  which  it  was  afterwards 
published.  About  the  year  1690,  Wesley  was  introduced  to  the 
meeting  of  the  Calves-head  Club  already  mentioned.  Kightly 
or  wrongly,  Wesley  regarded  Charles  I.  as  a  "  royal  martyr,"  for 
thus  he  emphatically  speaks  of  him  in  the  dedication  he  prefixed 
to  his  "  History  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in  Verse  ;"  but, 
at  the  meeting  at  which  he  was  now  present,  the  name  and  memory 
of  Charles  were  treated  with  even  profane  derision  and  contempt. 
Is  it  surprising  that  this  spirited  young  man  should  leave  the  place 
with  a  feeling  of  disgust,  and  that,  in  the  heat  of  the  moment,  he 
should  sit  down  to  write  what  he  had  often  been  solicited  to  write, 
an  account  of  the  "  Education  of  the  Dissenters  in  their  private 
academies  ?"  He  tells  us  that  he  began  to  write  his  letter  as  soon 
as  he  left  the  club,  and  that  he  finished  it  before  five  o'clock  next 
morning.  He  then  went  to  bed,  placing  his  manuscript  beneath 
his  pillow.  While  he  slept,  a  Dissenting  friend,  who  had  seen  him 
thoughtful,  came  and  stealthily  took  the  manuscript  away  and 
read  it.  Such  behaviour  was  highly  dishonourable,  and  can  be 
excused  only  on  the  ground  of  supposing  that  Wesley  and  this 
Dissenter  were  intimate  and  confidential  friends.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  when  Wesley  awoke  and  missed  his  letter,  he  charged  the 
Dissenter  with  having  it.  The  purloiner  produced  the  missing 
manuscript,  said  he  had  read  it,  and  that  there  was  nothing  in  it 
but  what  was  true.  Still  he  was  doubtful  respecting  the  expe- 
diency of  divulging  such  revelations,  and  persuaded  Wesley  not 
to  send  the  letter  to  the  person  for  whom  it  was  intended. 

That  person  was  Eobert  Clavel,  a  respectable  and  extensive 
dealer  in  books,  master  of  the  Company  of  Stationers,  and  whom 
Dr  Barlow,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  used  to  call  "  the  honest  book- 
seller." By  some  means,  Clavel  became  possessed  of  Wesley's  let- 
ter. Wesley  never  intended  it  for  the  public  eye.  He  declares 
that  he  wrote  it  as  a  "private  letter  to  a  particular  friend,  and 
had  not  the  least  thought  of  its  being  i3ublished."  Clavel  kept 
the  letter  in  his  private  possession  for  about  a  dozen  years.  The 
Dissenters  were  rapidly  rising  into  power.  The  High  Church  party 
took  alarm,  and  Queen  Anne  became  a  tool  for  the  accomplishment 
of  their  purposes.  Just  at  this  juncture  Clavel,  without  Wesley's 
consent,  and  even  without  consulting  him,  took  upon  himself  to 
print  the  letter  which  Wesley,  at  a  single  sitting,  had  written  some 
twelve  years  before,  and,  to  give  it  more  importance,  actually  dedi- 


AGE  41.]  DISASTEKS  AND  DISSENTERS.  279 

cated  it  to  the  House  of  Commons,  at  that  time  most  hostile  to  the 
Dissenters,  and  eager  to  do  something  for  their  sujipression. 

What  was  the  result?  Wesley's  letter  was  published  anony- 
mously, but  as  it  contained  a  biographical  sketch  of  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  writer,  there  was  no  difficulty  in  detecting  the  author. 
Accordingly  there  appeared,  almost  immediately,  a  small  quarto 
pamphlet  of  twenty-four  pages,  with  the  following  title  : — '*  A 
Defence  of  the  Dissenters'  Education  in  their  Private  Academies, 
in  an  answer  to  Mr  W y's  disingenuous  and  unskilful  Reflec- 
tions upon  'em ;  in  a  Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord. — London,  1703." 
This  was  by  Mr  Palmer. 

Mr  Palmer's  defence  is  full  of  bitterness.  He  speaks  of  Wesley's 
"impotent  malice,"  "trifling  stories,"  and  "unchristian  and  un- 
gentlemanly  insinuations."  He  says  that  Wesley's  accusation,  that 
Mr  Morton's  pupils  vindicated  the  jnurder  of  Charles  I.,  is  "scan- 
dalous and  false  ;"  that  "  the  Dissenters  universally  abhor  the  king- 
killing  doctrines;"  and  that  they  "have  not  opposed  any  king, 
nor  defended  any  tyrant."  He  also  denies  that  the  Dissenters  were 
"undutiful  to  the  Church  and  injurious  to  the  Universities  ;"  for 
"  Dr  Owen  himself  required  Wesley  to  go  to  the  University."  He 
alleges  that  Wesley,  in  his  letter,  has  "  acted  unbecoming  a  scholar, 
a  gentleman,  and  a  Christian  ;"  that  he  "  has  betrayed  the  private 
conversations  of  his  best  friends,  and  insulted  the  works  of  great 
and  excellent  scholars;"  and  yet  Palmer  admits  that  Wesley's 
"charges  might  be  true,  at  least  in  part;"  but  thinks  the  things 
"were  excusable,  considering  the  provocations  the  Dissenters 
received  at  that  period."  He  says,  Wesley  "endeavoured,  by  art- 
ful and  false  insinuations,  to  expose  Dissenters  to  contempt;" 
speaks  of  his  letter  as  "perfidious;"  and  states  that  he  had 
received  "  many  favours  from  Dissenters  even  since  he  conformed 
to  the  Church  of  England,  and  that,  till  the  appearance  of  his 
invidious  letter,  the  whole  Dissenting  party  expressed  for  him,  on 
all  occasions,  universal  esteem."  He  says,  Wesley's  works  "are 
saved  from  contempt  only  by  the  adorable  name  of  Jesus  which  they 
bear,  and  the  lovely  memory  of  that  bright  saint,  the  Queen  ;  both 
of  which  names,  the  best  poets  think,  are  injured  by  his  trifling 
management."     Much  of  this  is  not  only  abusive,  but  false. 

Mr  Palmer's  defence  was  written  at  the  request  of  the  noble- 
man to  whom  it  is  addressed ;  and,  besides  rude  reproaches,  con- 
tains au  account  of  the  academy  in  which  he  himself  had  been 


280  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l705. 

trained  for  the  Cliristian  ministry.  Dr  Kerr,  his  tutor,  was  "a 
great  and  polite  scholar,  a  curious  critic,  a  penetrating  philosopher, 
a  deep  and  rational  divine,  and  an  accurate  historian."  He  never 
"heard  him  make  one  unhandsome  reflection  on  the  Church  of 
England ;  and  he  never  offered  to  impose  controverted  points 
upon  his  pupils.  No  man  living  could  perform  academical  readings 
better  ;  and  his  pupils,  in  proportion  to  their  number,  were  equal 
in  learning  and  virtue  to  those  of  any  University  in  Europe." 

The  course  adopted  by  Dr  Kerr  was  for  his  students  to  begin 
with  logic,  then  proceed  to  metaphysics,  and  then  to  natural 
philosophy.  They  disputed  every  other  day,  in  Latin,  upon  the 
several  philosophical  controversies ;  and,  "  on  Saturdays,  all  the 
superior  classes  declaimed  by  turns,  four  and  four,  on  noble  and 
useful  subjects."  On  Mondays  and  Fridays  they  read  divinity ; 
and  every  day,  after  dinner,  they  read  Greek  and  Latin  authors. 
They  also  went  through  the  Greek  Testament  once  a  year.  Dr 
Kerr  began  the  scholastic  exercises  of  every  morning  with  public 
prayer,  sometimes  in  English,  and  sometimes  in  Latin.  At  divi- 
nity lectures  the  eldest  pupils  prayed,  and  those  of  inferior  genius 
were  allowed  forms  of  prayer,  either  of  their  own  composing,  or 
others,  as  they  thought  proper.  Prayer  in  the  family  was  most 
punctually  observed,  and  nine  o'clock  at  night  was  the  latest  hour 
for  any  pupil  to  be  out  of  doors.  Obscene  or  profane  discourse, 
if  known,  would  have  been  punished  with  expulsion ;  though 
Palmer  admits  that  some  of  the  students  broke  the  rules,  and 
gives  an  account  of  one  or  two  who  became  rakes,  had  to  leave, 
and  entered  the  Established  Church.  He  adds,  that  the  rule 
among  Dissenters  was  for  every  candidate  for  the  ministry  to 
have  five  years  of  preparatory  training,  and  that,  before  they  were 
recommended  to  a  pastorship,  they  had  to  be  examined  as  to 
learning,  probity,  and  virtue,  and  to  have  certificates  from  their 
tutors.     Such  is  the  substance  of  Mr  Palmer's  defence. 

In  1704,  Mr  Wesley  replied  to  this.  His  second  pamphlet  is 
entitled,  "A  Defence  of  a  Letter  concerning  the  Education  of 
Dissenters  in  their  Private  Academies,  with  a  more  full  and  satis- 
factory account  of  the  same,  and  of  their  morals  and  behaviour 
towards  the  Church  of  England ;  being  an  Answer  to  the  Defence 
of  the  Dissenters'  Education.  By  Samuel  Wesley  :  London,  1704  ;" 
with  this  remarkable  motto — 

"  Noli  irritare  crabrones  ! 
'  The  Kirk  '&  a  vixen ;  don't  auger  her.' " 


AGE  43.]  DISASTEES  AND  DISSENTE.,S.  281 

The  pamphlet  consists  of  sixty-four  pages,  besides  eight  of  title, 
preface,  and  contents. 

In  his  preface,  Mr  Wesley  gives  an  account  of  the  writing  and 
publication  of  his  former  letter,  which  he  solemnly  declares  was 
printed  without  his  consent  or  knowledge. 

He  then  states,  that,  the  reason  why  he  now  writes  this  "  De- 
fence" is,  because  Palmer,  by  broad  inuendos,  has  charged  him 
with  immoral  and  scandalous  practices  while  he  lived  among  the 
Dissenters. 

Wesley's  pamphlet  chiefly  consists  of  three  parts : — 1.  The 
reasons  which  induced  him  to  write  the  letter  which  Clavel  had 
published,  and  which  had  "lost  him  the  good  graces  of  his  old 
friends."  2.  A  consideration  of  Palmer's  defence  of  his  party.  3. 
A  refutation  of  the  scandalous  charges  brought  against  himself. 
The  pamphlet  is  written  with  great  smartness. 

In  1705,  Palmer  published  an  answer  to  Wesley's  second  pam- 
phlet, entitled,  "A  Vindication  of  the  Learning,  Loyalty,  Morals, 
and  most  Christian  Behaviour  of  the  Dissenters  towards  the 
Church  of  England ;  in  answer  to  Mr  Wesley's  Defence  of  his 
Letter  concerning  the  Dissenters'  Education  in  their  Private 
Academies ;  and  to  Mr  Sacheverell's  injurious  Eeflections  upon 
them.     By  Samuel  Palmer  :  London,  1705." 

Palmer,  in  his  preface,  states  that  in  his  former  pamphlet  he 
had  charged  Wesley  with  giving  a  perverse  and  invidious  turn  to 
some  of  the  Dissenters'  innocent  actions ;  with  an  ungenerous  be- 
trayal of  private  confidence,  by  reflecting  upon  private  conversa- 
tions ;  with  insulting  the  v/orks  of  great  and  excellent  scholars ; 
and  with  base  ingratitude  to  his  Dissenting  friends.  He  also 
speaks  most  contemptuously  of  Wesley's  reply  to  his  previous 
production,  and  says  he  did  not  think  Wesley  was  "  capable  of 
writing  so  rash,  impertinent,  and  virulent  a  piece." 

Palmer's  vindication,  which  consists  of  115  closely-printed 
quarto  pages,  is  written  with  great  ability,  and  is  divided  into  nine 
chapters.  The  first  is  intended  to  prove  that  the  Dissenters  have 
a  right  to  have  private  academies.  The  second  shows  that  such 
academies  are  no  injury  to  the  prerogatives  of  Queen  Anne,  and 
that  their  tutors  are  not  guilty  of  perjury.  The  third  vindicates 
the  ability  of  such  tutors,  and  assigns  reasons  why  the  Dissenters 
have  published  so  few  learned  works.  The  fourth  gives  the 
reasons  why  the  Dissenters  did  not  write  more  against  Popery 
during  the  reign  of  James  II,     The  fifth  asserts  that  the  prin- 


282  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l705. 

ciples  and  behaviour  of  the  Dissenters  are  loyal.  The  sixth  de- 
fends the  addresses  which  the  Dissenters  presented  to  James  II. 
The  seventh  justifies  the  personal  and  public  behaviour  of  Dis- 
senters towards  the  Church  of  England.  The  eighth  vindicates 
the  moral  principles  and  conversation  of  Dissenters.  And  the 
ninth  shows  the  value  which  Dissenters  place  upon  external  wor- 
ship, ujion  the  sacraments,  and  upon  ordination. 

Two  years  after  this,  Mr  Wesley  wrote  a  long  and  elaborate 
reply  to  this  second  pamphlet  of  Mr  Palmer's  ;  but,  for  the  present, 
we  must  pause  in  our  narrative  to  glance  at  other  matters  now 
transpiring.  It  was  a  period  of  intense  excitement,  and  the  dis- 
senting controversy  was  the  great  question  of  the  day. 

A  few  wrecks  after  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne,  the  famous 
Henry  Sachevurell  began  the  war  by  preaching  his  furious  sermon, 
at  Oxford,  on  "  political  union ;"  in  which,  says  Defoe,  "  he  dooms 
all  Dissenters  to  destruction,  without  either  bell,  book,  or  candle."* 
In  this  celebrated  sermon,  Sacheverell  lays  it  down  as  a  principle, 
that  ''religion  and  government,  Church  and  State,  make  up  oi:e 
entire  compounded  constitution,  sharing  the  same  fate  and  cir- 
cumstances, twisted  and  interwoven  into  the  very  being  and  prin- 
ciples of  each  other,  both  alike  jointly  assisting  and  being  assisted; 
and,  like  the  philosopher's  twins,  they  communicate  to  each  other 
their  mirth  or  sorrow,  and  equally  suffer  or  rejoice.  A  ruined 
Church  and  prosperous  Government  are  irreconcilable  contradic- 
tions in  experience,  confronted  and  confuted  by  the  universal  tes- 
timony of  all  ages  and  histoiies,  sacred  and  profane."-}*  Having 
attempted  to  illustrate  and  to  establish  this  principle,  he  then 
makes  his  doctrine  to  bear  upon  English  Dissenters,  and  uses  lan- 
guage the  most  violent.     The  following  are  specimens  : — 

The  Dissenters  are  "  a  confused  swarm  of  sectarists  gathered 
about  the  body  of  the  Church  of  England,  not  to  j^artake  of  its 
communion,  but  to  disturb  its  peace,"  (p.  20.) 

Men  like  Tillotson,  who  were  in  favour  of  the  scheme  for  com- 
prehending the  Dissenters  within  the  pale  of  the  Established 
Church,  are  designated  "  false  and  perfidious  members,  who,  un- 
der the  hypocritical  disguise  of  charity  and  moderation,  would 
have  taken  down  the  fence  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  re- 
moved its  landmark,  to  make  way  for  men  to  enter,  who  would 
have  debauched  its  doctrines,  overrun  its  discipline,  and  subverted 

*  Inquiry  into  Occasional  Conformity,  by  Defoe, 
t  Sacheverell's  Sermon,  pp.  6,  7. 


AGE  43.]  DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTERS.  283 

its  constitution.  These  shuffling,  treacherous  latituclinarians  ought 
to  be  stigmatised,  and  treated  equally  as  dangerous  enemies  to 
government,  as  well  as  Church,"  (p.  20.) 

Again  :  "  Presbytery  and  Eepublicanism  go  hand  in  hand. 
They  are  but  the  same  disorderly,  levelling  principles,  in  the  two 
different  branches  of  our  state,  equally  implacable  enemies  to 
monarchy  and  Episcopacy.  They  were  the  same  hand  that  were 
guilty  both  of  regicide  and  sacrilege,  that  divided  the  king's  head 
and  crown,  and  that  made  our  churches  stables  and  dens  of  beasts, 
as  well  as  thieves,"  (p.  20.) 

Again,  in  reference  to  Tillotson's  comprehension  scheme,  this 
firebrand  orator  exclaims  :  "  And  yet  this  Church  must  open  her 
injured  arms  to  receive  this  sly  and  insidious  viper  into  her  bosom. 
Her  sacred  enclosures  must  be  laid  open,  that  this  boar  out  of  the 
wood  might  waste  it.  Her  partition  wall  must  be  broken  down, 
and  the  veil  of  her  temple  rent  in  twain,  to  make  way  for  that 
adversary  to  enter,  whom  no  reason  ever  yet  could  convince ;  no 
kindness  ever  yet  could  win ;  no  condescension  ever  yet  could 
oblige  ;  and  whom  nothing  but  the  corruption  of  our  doctrine,  the 
destruction  of  our  discipline,  and  the  sequestration  of  our  estates 
and  revenues,  can  satisfy,"  (p.  21.) 

"  The  Dissenting  party  have  more  than  once  been  joined  with 
the  Papists,  in  their  arms  and  counsels,  as  well  to  extirpate  our 
government  as  to  subvert  our  Church.  They  were  at  first  the  bas- 
tard spawn  of  PajDists,  and  have  ever  since  been  the  instruments 
of  their  malice,  the  propagators  of  their  schism,  and  the  panders 
of  that  cursed  train  of  mischief,  that  was  originally  hatched  in  a 
conclave,  and  afterwards  brought  forth  and  nursed  up  in  a  con- 
venticle. They  are  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  religious  sect,  but 
as  a  political  faction  in  our  State,  uneasy  under  its  laws,  afiront- 
ing  its  authority,  denying  its  legal  power,  endeavouring  to  sup- 
plant its  jurisdiction,  and  to  wrest  the  reins  of  dominion  out  of 
our  rulers'  hands,"  (p.  22.) 

The  fiery  preacher  thus  concludes  : — "  It  is  an  amazing  contra- 
diction to  our  reason,  and  the  greatest  scandal  upon  our  Church, 
that  any,  pretending  to  be  her  true  sons,  pillars,  and  defenders, 
should  turn  such  apostates  and  renegadoes  to  their  oaths  and  pro- 
fessions, such  false  traitors  to  their  trusts  and  offices  as  to  strike 
sail  with  a  party  that  is  such  an  open  and  avowed  enemy  to  our 
communion,  and  against  whom  every  man  that  wishes  its  wel- 
fare ought  to  hang  out  the  hloody  flag  and  banner  of  defiance.    Is 


284;  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  'WESLEY.  [l705. 

this  the  jDeople  for  whom,  at  the  expense  of  hazarding  our  eternal 
safety,  we  must  give  up  our  ancient  faith,  constitution,  and  form 
of  worship  ?  If  the  Church  of  England  can  have  no  other  way  of 
showing  her  charity  than  by  prostituting  her  purity,  and  debauch- 
ing her  religion,  I  hope  they  will  pardon  her  if  she  imitate  her 
blessed  Author  and  Founder,  under  a  temptation  not  unlike  it, 
who,  with  scorn  and  disdain,  turned  His  back  upon  the  devil  when 
he  asked  Him  to  fall  down  and  worship  him.  We  must  watch 
against  these  crafty,  faithless,  and  insidious  persons,  who  can  creep 
to  our  altars,  and  partake  of  our  sacraments,  that  they  may  be 
qualified  more  secretly  and  powerfully  to  undermine  us.  This  is 
such  a  religious  piece  of  political  hypocrisy  as  even  no  heathen 
government  would  have  endured ;  and,  blessed  be  God,  there  is 
now  a  person  on  the  throne,  who  so  justly  weighs  the  interest  of 
Church  and  State  as  to  remove  so  false  an  engine  that  visibly 
overturns  both,"  (p.  24.) 

Such  was  the  way  in  which  the  High  Church  party  began  their 
campaign,  and  four  months  afterwards  their  representatives,  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  brought  in  and  passed  their  pet  "  Occa- 
sional Conformity  Bill." 

The  Dissenters,  at  this  period,  were  an  influential  and  important 
community.  They  were,  generally  speaking,  men  of  trade  and  in- 
dustry, and  the  moneyed  interests  of  England  were,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, in  their  hands.  Such  was  their  consequence  in  the  State, 
that,  the  parliamentary  discussions  of  the  "  Occasional  Conformity 
Bill "  seriously  influenced  the  money  market,  and  the  prices  of 
stocks  rose  or  fell  just  as  the  bill  was  likely  to  be  passed  or  to  be 
rejected.*  And  yet,  notwithstanding  their  number  and  import- 
ance, they  were,  with  a  few  exceptions,  extremely  reasonable  in 
their  demands.  Defoe,  himself  a  Dissenter,-f-  expounds  them  in 
a  pamphlet  published  at  the  time,  and  we  presume  that  his  expo- 
sition may  be  considered  tolerably  correct  and  just.  He  suggests 
that  if  Dissenters  are  to  be  excluded  from  all  places  of  profit, 
trust,  and  honour,  they  ought  to  be  excused  from  all  places  at- 
tended with  charge,  trouble,  and  loss  of  time  ;  that  if  a  Dissenter 
be  pressed  as  a  sailor  to  fight  at  sea,  or  be  enlisted  as  a  soldier  to 
fight  on  shore,  he  ought  not  to  be  declared  incapable  of  prefer- 
ment ;  and  that  if  Dissenters  must  not  only  maintain  their  own 

♦  Defoe's  Dissenters  Answer  to  the  High  Church  Challenge. 
t  Defoe's  Letter  to  John  Howe. 


AGE  43.]  DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTEES.  285 

clergy  and  their  own  poor,  but  also  join  in  maintaining  the  clergy 
and  the  poor  of  the  Established  Church, — if  they  must  pay  the 
same  taxes  and  the  same  duties  that  Churchmen  pay,  it  is  some- 
what hard  that  they  are  to  be  treated  with  so  much  suspicion  as 
not  to  be  thought  worthy  of  being  trusted  to  set  a  drunkard  in  the 
stocks.* 

Defoe  further  declares,  that,  so  far  as  it  respects  himself,  he 
has  not  the  least  objection  to  the  "Occasional  Conformity  Bill '' 
becoming  law.  He  has  no  notion  of  "  Christians  of  an  amphibi- 
ous nature,  who  have  such  preposterous  consciences  that  they  can 
believe  one  way  of  worship  to  be  right,  and  yet  serve  God  another 
way  themselves.  This  is  a  strange  thing  in  Israel !  It  is  like  a 
ship  with  her  sails  set,  some  back  and  some  full.  It  is  like  a 
workman  that  builds  with  one  hand,  and  pulls  down  with  another. 
It  is  like  everything  which  signifies  nothing.  To  say  that  a  man 
can  be  of  two  religions  is  a  contradiction,  unless  there  be  two 
Gods  to  worship,  or  he  has  two  souls  to  save.  If  it  be  unlawful 
for  me  to  dissent,  I  ought  to  conform ;  but  if  it  be  unlawful  for 
me  to  conform,  I  must  dissent.  To  say  that  you  take  the  sacra- 
ment as  a  civil  act  in  a  church,  and  as  a  religious  act  in  a  chapel, 
\s  playing  bo-peep  with  God  Almighty." -|- 

Such  were  the  sentiments  of  Defoe,  and  he  declares  that  nine- 
tenths  of  the  Dissenters,  numbering  altogether  about  two  mil- 
lions, entertained  the  same  opinions.^  All  he  asks  for  is,  what  the 
Queen  had  recommended  to  parliament,  peace  and  union.  In 
such  a  case,  "  the  concerns  of  conscience  would  never  make  a  rup- 
ture in  civil  society ;  men  would  be  gentlemen  as  well  as  Chris- 
tians ;  they  would  be  Dissenters,  and  yet  not  Dissenters ;  and 
there  would  be  conformity  in  civil  ceremonies,  though  none  in 
religious.  This  would  make  the  devil  out  of  love  with  the  English 
climate,  and  the  people  would  get  to  heaven  with  the  less  inter- 
ruption."§ 

Defoe  was  very  far  from  being  one  of  the  mildest  and  most 
moderate  of  Dissenters  ;  and  yet,  who  can  carp  at  sentiments  like 
these  ? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  blackguards,  calling  themselves 
Dissenters,  annually  joined  in  the  profane,  bacchanalian  revelries 
of  the  Calves-head  Club ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally 

*  Defoe's  Inquiry  into  Occasional  Conformity.  +  Ibid. 

:J  Defoe's  Dissenter  Misrepresented.  §  Defoe's  Challenge  of  Peace. 


286  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l703. 

certain  that  some  of  tlie  High  Church  party,  with  a  direct  refer- 
ence to  the  death  of  King  William  being  said  to  have  been  imme- 
diately occasioned  by  his  horse  stumbling  over  a  mole-hill,  were 
accustomed  to  drink  a  health  to  the  "  little  gentleman  dressed  in 
velvet,"*  and  to  the  horse  which  so  fatally  stumbled  over  the  in- 
significant heap  of  earth  that  had  been  raised  by  his  probocis.*f* 

Defoe  complains  that  the  same  party  "  endeavoure !,  by 
calumny  and  reproach,  to  blacken  the  Dissenters  with  crimes  of 
which  they  were  innocent  ;"|  that  "railing  pamphlets,  buffooning 
them  and  dressing  them  up  in  the  bear's  skin  for  all  the  dogs  in 
the  street  to  bait  them,"  were  published ;  "  and  that  railing  ser- 
mons, exciting  the  people  to  hate  them,"  were  preached.  He 
says  "  they  were  threatened  with  the  repeal  of  the  Toleration  Act, 
blackened  with  slanders,  and  bullied  with  bloody  flags,  defiances, 
and  Billingsgate  language  from  the  press  and  from  the  pulpit ; 
their  meeting  houses  were  represented  as  houses  of  sedition,  and 
they  daily  suffered  from  the  indignities  of  harebrained  priests, 
buffooning  poets,  and  clubs  of  insolent  pamphleteers." § 

What  was  the  result  of  all  this  ?  The  greatest  bitterness  was 
created,  and  pamphlets,  full  of  scurrility  and  violence,  literally 
swarmed.  Among  the  writers  of  these  productions,  Daniel  Defoe 
was  the  most  eminent.  The  pamphlet  which,  above  all  others, 
occasioned  the  greatest  commotion,  was  his  "  Shortest  Way  with 
Dissenters  ;  or,  Proposals  for  the  Establishment  of  the  Church." 
This  was  published  anonymously,  and  pretended  to  be  written  by 
one  of  the  High  Church  party,  and  to  set  forth  their  complaints 
and  wishes.  The  Church  is  said  to  have  harboured  Dissenters 
too  long,  and  to  have  nourished  the  viperous  brood  till  they  hissed 
and  flew  in  the  face  of  the  mother  that  had  cherished  them.  The 
Church  had  been  huffed  and  bullied  by  the  Act  of  Toleration, 
and  canting  synagogues  had  been  set  up  at  its  very  doors.  The 
Dissenters  had  butchered  one  king,  deposed  another,  and  made  a 
mock  monarch  of  a  third,  and  yet  expected  to  be  employed  by  the 
fourth.  If  James  I.  had  sent  all  the  Puritans  in  England  away  to 
the  West  Indies,  the  Church  of  England  would  have  been  kept 
undivided  and  entire  ;  but  these  Puritans,  to  requite  the  lenity  of 
the  father,  took  up  arms  against  the  son,  put  to  death  God's 

*  Chadwick's  Life  of  Defoe,  p.  144.  +  Defoe's  Mode  Mourners. 

%  Inquiry  into  Occasional  Conformity.  §  Defoe's  Challenge  of  Peace. 


AGE  43.]  DISASTEES  AND  DISSENTEES.  287 

anointed,  and  set  up  a  sordid  impostor  who  had  neither  the  title 
nor  the  understanding  to  manage  the  nation.  Coming  into  power, 
they  shared  the  church  lands  among  their  soldiers,  and  turned  the 
clergy  out  to  starve.  During  the  reign  of  their  own  King  Wil- 
liam, they  had  crept  into  all  places  of  trust  and  profit,  and  had 
been  preferred  to  the  highest  posts  in  England  ;  while,  in  Scot- 
land, they  had  trampled  down  the  sacred  orders,  suppressed  the 
Episcopacy,  and  made  an  entire  conquest  of  the  Cliurch.  For 
such  reasons,  they  ought  to  be  rooted  out  from  the  face  of  the 
land,  and  never  would  the  nation  enjoy  iminterrupted  union  and 
tranquillity  till  their  spirit  of  Whiggism,  faction,  and  schism  were 
melted  down  like  the  old  money.  It  was  true,  that  Queen  Anne 
had  promised  them  toleration,  but  she  had  also  promised  to  pro- 
tect and  defend  the  Church  ;  and  if  she  could  not  effectually  do 
that  without  the  destruction  of  the  Dissenters,  she  must,  of  course, 
dispense  with  one  promise  in  order  to  fulfil  the  other.  The  Par- 
liament, protected  and  encouraged  by  a  Church  of  England  queen, 
had  now  the  opportunity  to  suppress  the  spirit  of  enthusiasm,  and 
to  free  the  nation  from  the  vipers  that  had  so  long  sucked  the 
blood  of  their  mother.  If  they  were  permitted  to  remain,  they 
would  corrupt  posterity,  plunder  the  estates  of  the  members  of 
the  Church,  drag  their  persons  to  gaols,  gibbets,  and  scaffolds, 
and  swallow  up  the  Church  itself  in  schism,  faction,  and  enthu- 
siasm. If  one  severe  law  were  made  and  executed,  that  all  found 
at  a  conventicle  should  be  transporteii,  and  their  preacher  be 
hanged,  they  would  soon  all  come  to  church,  and  an  age  would 
make  all  parties  one  again.  Why  should  an  enthusiast  be  less  a 
criminal  than  a  Jesuit?  Why  should  the  Pai^ist,  with  his  seven 
sacraments,  be  worse  than  a  Quaker,  with  no  sacrament  at  all  ? 
Why  should  religious  houses  be  more  intolerable  than  meeting- 
houses ?  What  with  Popery  on  the  one  hand,  and  schismatics  on 
the  other,  the  Church  of  England  had  been  crucified  between  two 
thieves.  Now,  let  the  thieves  be  crucified,  and  let  the  foundations 
of  the  Church  be  established  on  the  destruction  of  her  enemies. 

Such  is  the  substance  of  Defoe's  notorious  pamphlet.  For  a 
time,  and  to  some  extent,  the  High  Church  party  believed  it  to  be 
a  genuine  production  ;  and  one  of  them,  in  a  letter,  declared  that, 
next  to  the  Holy  Bible  and  Sacred  Comments,  it  was  the  most 
valuable  thing  that  his  library  contained,  and  he  earnestly  prayed 
that  God  would  put  it  into  the  heart  of  Queen  Anne  to  carry  its 


288  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l705. 

proposals  into  execution*  It  is  certain  that  there  was  nothing  in 
Defoe's  pamphlet  but  what  had  been  substantially  enunciated  from 
scores  of  High  Church  pulpits  ;  but  now  that  it  was  published, 
and  a  national  commotion  was  created,  and  especially,  as  soon  as 
it  was  suspected  that  the  writer  was  not  a  Churchman,  but  a  des- 
picable Dissenter,  there  was  a  pretence  of  the  most  terrible  indig- 
nation, and  threats  of  the  severest  punishment  to  be  inflicted 
upon  the  audacious  author. 

Defoe  was  suspected,  and  had  to  flee  for  safety.  He  was 
advertised  in  the  London  Gazette,  and  £50  was  offered  by  Go- 
vernment for  his  apprehension.  The  advertisement  describes  him 
as  "  a  middle-sized,  spare  man,  about  forty  years  old,  of  a  brown 
complexion,  and  dark-brown  coloured  hair,  but  wears  a  wig ;  has 
a  hooked  nose,  a  sharp  chin,  gray  eyes,  and  a  large  mole  near  his 
mouth."  This  advertisement  is  dated  January  10,  1703,  the  year 
in  which  Wesley's  letter  was  published. 

Six  weeks  after,  the  House  of  Commons  passed  a  resolution, 
"  That  this  book  (Defoe's)  being  full  of  false  and  scandalous  re- 
flections on  parliament,  and  tending  to  promote  sedition,  be  burnt 
by  the  hands  of  the  common  hangman  in  New  Palace  Yard." 

Meantime,  Defoe  was  arrested,  and,  in  July  1703,  was  brought 
to  trial.  His  sentence  was  to  pay  a  fine  to  the  Queen  of  two  hun- 
dred marks  ;  to  stand  three  times  in  the  pillory  ;  to  be  imprisoned 
during  the  Queen's  pleasure,  and  to  find  sureties  for  his  good  be- 
haviour for  seven  years. 

In  accordance  with  this  sentence,  on  July  29,  Defoe  was  placed 
in  the  pillory  before  the  Eoyal  Exchange  ;  on  July  30,  near  the 
Conduit  in  Cheapside  ;  and  on  July  31,  at  Temple  Bar.  Such 
pillory  exhibitions  had  seldom  been  witnessed.  On  each  of  the 
three  days,  thousands  of  sympathisers  accompanied  the  condemned 
scribe  from  Newgate  prison  to  his  place  of  shame,  to  protect  him 
from  hurt  or  insult,  whilst  his  very  pillory  was  hung  with  gar- 
lands woven  by  the  fingers  of  his  friends. 

The  pen  of  Defoe  was  never  plied  more  busily  than  while  he 
was  in  prison.  He  wrote  more  church  defiances  during  his  year 
of  confinement  in  Newgate  than  in  any  other  year  of  his  che- 
quered life.  Other  persons  were  equally  busy,  and  in  all  forms  of 
pamphlet,  tract,  and  broadsheet,  the  press  poured  forth  its  volumes 
of  contention.     All  classes  of  society  seemed  to  catch  the  conta- 

*  Defoe's  Dissenters'  Answer. 


AGE  13.]  DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTERS.  289 

gion.  Dean  Swift,  in  London  at  the  time,  declared  that  the  con- 
tention between  Church  and  Dissent  was  so  universal,  that  the 
dogs  in  the  streets  took  it  up,  and  the  cats  debated  the  question 
by  night  on  the  tops  of  the  houses  ;  yea^,  the  very  ladies  were  so 
split  asunder  into  High  Church  and  Low  Church,  and  were  so 
warm  in  their  disputes,  as  to  have  no  time  to  say  their  prayers. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  excitement  that  Samuel  Wesley's. 
letter  was  published  by  Clavel,  and  that  his  controversy  with 
Palmer  took  place. 

But  besides  having  Palmer  for  an  antagonist,  Wesley  was  at- 
tacked by  his  old  schoolfellow,  the  redoubtable  Daniel  Defoe. 
This  was  in  a  pamphlet  published  in  1704,  and  which  was  prob- 
ably written  in  Newgate  prison.  It  was  entitled  "  More  Short 
Ways  with  the  Dissenters."  The  Queen  having  been  obliged  to 
dismiss  her  High  Church  Cabinet,  on  account  of  the  storm  that 
had  been  raised  by  their  attempts  to  pass  the  "  Occasional  Con- 
formity Bill,"  and  thereby  to  suppress  the  Dissenters,  Defoe 
alleges  that  now  another  scheme  was  being  concocted  for  the 
accomplishment  of  the  self-same  purpose.  The  "new  attempt 
struck  at  the  root  of  the  Dissenters'  interest.  It  would  effectually 
destroy  the  succession  of  them  in  the  nation  ;  for  it  was  intended 
to  prevent  them  educating  their  children  in  their  own  opinions. 

He  then  adds,  in  reference  to  Wesley,  "  If  I  should  say  that  a 
mercenary  renegado  was  hired  to  expose  the  private  academies  of 
the  Dissenters,  as  nurseries  of  rebellious  principles,  I  should  say 
nothing  but  what  is  in  too  many  mouths  to  remain  a  secret.  The 
Eeverend  Mr  Wesley,  author  of  two  pamphlets  calculated  to 
blacken  our  education  in  the  academies  of  the  Dissenters,  ingenu- 
ously confesses  himself  guilty  of  many  crimes  in  his  youth,  and  fs 
the  willinger  to  confess  them,  as  he  would  lay  them  at  the  door  of 
thfe  Dissenters  and  their  schools,  among  whom  he  was  educated ; 
though  I  humbly  conceive,  it  is  no  more  a  proof  of  the  immorality 
of  the  Dissenters  in  their  schools  that  he  luas  a  little  rakish  among 
them,  or  that  he  found  others  among  them  like  himself,  than  the 
hanging  five  students  of  Cambridge,  for  robbing  on  the  highway, 
should  prove  that  padding  is  a  science  taught  in  that  university. 
He  takes  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  prove,  that  in  these  academies 
were  or  are  taught  anti-monarchical  principles ;  but  the  author 
of  these  sheets  happens  to  be  one  that  was  educated  under  the 
same  master  that  he  was  taught  by,  viz,,  Mr  Charles  Morton  of 

T 


290  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l705. 

Newington  Green  ;  and  I  have  now  by  rae  the  manuscripts  of 
science,  the  exercises  of  Mr  Morton's  school,  and,  among  the  rest, 
those  of  politics  in  particular  ;  and  I  must  do  that  learned  gentle- 
man's memory  the  justice  to  affirm,  that  neither  in  his  system  of 
politics,  government,  and  discipline,  nor  in  any  other  of  the  exer- 
cises of  his  school,  was  there  anything  taught  or  encouraged  that 
was  antimonarchical,  or  destructive  to  the  government  or  consti- 
tution of  England.  Allow,  then,  that  Mr  Wesley  fell  into  ill 
company  afterwards ;  allow  we  had,  and  still  have  worse  rakes 
among  us  than  himself,  does  this  prove  that  our  schools  teach 
men  thus,  and  that  the  Dissenters,  in  general,  profess  principles 
destructive  of  monarchy  V 

Defoe  then  proceeds  to  say,  that  the  reason  why  Dissenters  have 
erected  and  opened  private  academies,  to  teach  their  children  by 
themselves,  is  because  the  Church  party,  by  imposing  unreasonable 
terms,  have  shut  them  out  of  theirs.  He  states  that,  if  they  will 
admit  the  youth  of  the  Dissenters  into  their  universities,  without 
imposing  upon  them  unfair  oaths  and  obligations,  the  Dissenters, 
though  objecting  to  "  university  morals,  as  to  the  trifles  of  drunk- 
enness and  lewdness,"  yet,  would  engage  to  have  always  as  many 
as  two  thousand  of  their  young  people  students  in  these  seats  of 
learning. 

The  remainder  of  Defoe's  pamphlet  is  devoted  to  a  violent  refuta- 
tion of  Sacheverell's  second  sermon  at  Oxford  ;  a  sermon  in  which, 
he  declares,  there  are  fourteen  positive  untruths,  to  the  reproach  of 
the  preacher's  coat,  and  the  scandal  of  his  ministerial  function. 

Mr  Wesley,  in  his  first  reply  to  Mr  Palmer,  used  the  Latin  line 
as  his  motto,  Noli  irritare  crahones.  He  wished  not  to  irritate  the 
wasps  ;  but  whether  he  wished  it  or  not,  the  thing  itself  was  done. 
We  have  seen  what  Palmer  and  Defoe  say  of  him  and  of  his  un- 
lucky letter ;  and,  we  are  bound  to  add,  that  others  have  been  not 
less  pointed  and  severe.  Dunton  writes — "Mr  Wesley's  first 
piece  was  a  most  unkind  satire.  The  world  had  not  known  him 
unless  he  had  thought  to  make  himself  public.  I  am  afraid  Mr 
Wesley's  vein  has  almost  spent  itself ;  the  dregs  come  the  last. 
His  taxing  the  morals  and  behaviour  of  the  Dissenting  ministers 
was  a  malicious  falsehood,  published  on  purpose  to  carry  favour 
with  the  High  Plyers,  and  to  enlarge  his  preferments."  Chad- 
wick,  in  his  Life  of  Defoe,  broadly  asserts  that  Samuel  Wesley 
himself  published  his  letter  respecting  dissenting  academies  ;  and 


AGE  43.]  DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTERS.  291 

that  his  traducing  the  Dissenters  "was  intended,  through  the 
royal  patronage,  to  send  this  time-serving  flatterer  into  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Canterbury,  upon  the  back  of  that  unprincipled  mis- 
creant, Dr  Sacheverell."  Milner,  in  his  "  Life  and  Times  of  Dr 
Isaac  Watts,"  observes — "  It  is  difficult  to  shield  Mr  Wesley  from 
the  charge  of  seeking  to  further  the  designs  of  tyranny  by  private 
slander  ;  and  of  endeavouring  to  enlarge  a  scanty  income  by  grati- 
fying the  heads  of  the  Church,  in  vilifying  the  seceders  from  its 
communion.  There  is  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  hopes  of  pre- 
ferment led  him  to  join  the  party  of  Sacheverell  in  the  work  of 
abuse  and  defamation.  Mr  Southey  says,  the  reason  why  he  left 
the  Dissenters,  was  his  falling  in  with  bigoted  and  ferocious  men, 
who  defended  the  execution  of  King  Charles,  and  shocked  and 
disgusted  him  by  their  Calves-head  Club.  The  only  authority 
for  this  extraordinary  assertion  is  the  evidence  of  Samuel  Wesley, 
the  younger,  a  violent  Jacobite ;  and  Mr  Southey  introduces  the 
statement  into  his  pages  as  if  no  suspicion  was  to  be  entertained 
of  the  truth  of  the  facts  it  expresses.  It  may  be  true  that  Mr 
Wesley  was  a  member  of  the  Calves-head  Club ;  it  may  be  true 
that  he  frequented  the  blind  alley,  near  Moorfields,  on  the  30th  of 
January ;  but  it  is  not  true  that  any  other  cause  beside  his  own 
imprudence  introduced  him  into  such  society  ;  it  is  not  true  that 
the  scenes  he  there  witnessed  led  to  his  secession  from  the  Dissen- 
ters ;  for  they  had  no  more  to  do  with  such  disgraceful  proceed- 
ings than  their  accusers  ;  so  that,  the  only  inference  we  can  derive 
from  the  representation  of  Mr  Southey  is,  that  the  elder  Wesley, 
in  his  youth,  associated  with  a  band  of  profligates ;  and,  as  ex- 
tremes in  politics  often  meet,  the  furious  republican  became  at 
last  a  blind  worshipper  of  the  royal  prerogative." 

In  these  extracts,  the  reader  has  before  him  the  substance  of  all 
the  charges  which  Dissenting  ignorance  and  hatred  have  brought 
against  the  character  of  this  venerable  man.  It  is  scarce  worth 
while  to  refute  them ;  for  they  are  all  in  flat  contradiction  to  the 
facts  published  in  the  previous  pages  of  this  narrative ;  and  yet, 
perhaps,  a  brief  reply  may  be  of  service  : — 

Chaeges.  Answers. 

Defoe  says  that  Wesley  was  a  "  mer-  Defoe  gave  utterance  to  a  malicious 
canary  renegado."  slander ;    in  support  of  which  he  does 

not  even  attempt  to  adduce  the  slightest 
evidence. 


292 


THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY. 


[1705. 


Defoe  says  that  Wesley  was  hired  to 
expose  the  private  academies  of  Dissen- 
ters. 

Defoe  says  that  Wesley  ingenuously 
confesses  himself  guilty  of  many  crimes 
in  his  youth ;  and  that  he  was  a  little 
rakish  while  he  was  among  the  Dissen- 
ters. 


Defoe  says  Mr  Morton  never  taught 
antimonarchical  principles. 


Defoe  meanly  insinuates  that  Mr 
Wesley  fell  into  ill  company  after  he 
left  the  Dissenters. 


Leaving  Defoe,  turn  to  Dunton.  The 
latter  says  that  Wesley's  letter  "  taxing 
the  morals  and  behaviour  of  Dissenting 
ministers  was  a  malicious  falsehood." 


Dunton  says  that  Wesley  published 
the  letter  "to  curry  favour  with  the 
High  Flyers,  and  to  enlarge  his  prefer- 
ment." 


Chadwick  says  Wesley  published  the 
letter  himself. 

Chadwick  says  Wesley  traduced  the 
Dissenters  in  order  to  become  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury. 

Milner  accuses  AVesley  of  seeking  to 
further  the  designs  of  tyranny. 


Who  hired  him  ?  What  was  his  re- 
muneration ?  This  also  is  an  unfounded 
assertion,  unsupported  by  a  single  par- 
ticle of  proof. 

All  that  Mr  Wesley  acknowledges  is, 
that  he  wrote  some  "  silly  lampoons  on 
Church  and  State,"  at  the  instigation 
and  urgent  request  of  some  Dissenting 
ministers,  who  ought  to  have  known 
better  than  expose  a  youth  from  the 
country  to  such  temptations.  He  fur- 
ther maintains  that  if  he  was  not  an 
"  exemplary  liver"  while  with  the  Dis- 
senters, he  was,  at  least,  not  a  "  scan- 
dalous one." 

Mr  Wesley  says  the  same;  and  also 
adds,  that  whenever  Mr  Morton  heard 
any  of  his  pupils  talking  disafFectedly, 
or  disloyally,  he  never  failed  to  rebuke 
them. 

We  have  no  account  of  his  being  in 
any  ill  company  after  he  left  the  Dis- 
senters, except  on  one  occasion,  when 
he  was  in  company  with  a  number  of 
Dissenting  scoffers  at  the  Calves-head 
Club. 

The  Dissenter  who  purloined  the 
manuscript  from  under  Wesley's  pillow 
while  he  slept,  and  then  dishonourably 
read  it,  freely  acknowledged  that  there 
was  nothing  in  the  letter  but  what  was 
true. 

Mr  Wesley  did  not  publish  it  at  all. 
That  was  done  by  Mr  Clavel,  who  pub- 
lished it  without  either  Wesley's  consent 
or  knowledge.  Besides,  so  far  from  it 
being  intended  to  "  curry  favour  with  the 
High  Flyers,"  it  was  written  at  a  time 
when  Wesley  undeniably  belonged  to 
the  Low  Church  party,  the  head  of 
which  was  the  man  he  so  greatly  praised 
two  or  three  years  afterwards,  viz., 
Archbishop  Tillotson. 

That  is  an  unblushing  falsehood. 

This  provokes  a  smile,  but  is  too  ab- 
surd to  deserve  a  serious  answer. 

Mr  Wesley  was  an  enemy  of  tyrants. 
Witness  what  he  said  when  James  II. 
exhibited  his  tyranny  at  Oxford. 


AGE  43.] 


DISASTERS  AND  DISSENTEES. 


293 


Milner  says  that  Wesley  "  endea- 
voured to  enlarge  a  scanty  income  by 
gratifying  the  heads  of  the  Church  in 
vilifying  the  seceders  from  its  commu- 
nion. 

Milner  says  there  is  reason  to  fear 
that  hopes  of  preferment  led  him  to  join 
the  party  of  Sacheverell. 

Milner  says  that  Samuel  Wesley,  jun., 
was  a  violent  Jacobite. 


Milner  says  that  Samuel  Wesley,  jun., 
is  the  only  authority  attesting  the  truth- 
fulness of  the  story  about  the  Calves- 
head  Club. 

Milner  dishonourably  insinuates  that 
"  it  may  be  true  that  Wesley  was  a 
member  of  the  Calves-head  Club,  and 
that  he  frequented  its  meetings  on  the 
30th  of  January." 

Milner  says  it  was  his  own  imprudence 
that  introduced  him  into  such  society. 


Milner  says  it  is  not  true  that  the 
scene  at  the  Calves-head  Club  was  the 
cause  of  his  leaving  the  Dissenters. 


Milner  says  that  he  infers  that  Wes- 
ley, in  his  youth,  "associated  with  a 
band  of  profligates." 


Milner  says  the  Dissenters  had  no 
more  to  do  with  the  disgraceful  proceed- 
ings of  the  Calves-head  Club  than  their 
accusers  had. 


Mr  Wesley  never  intended  his  letter 
to  be  even  seen  by  the  heads  of  the 
Church ;  much  less  hoped  that,  through 
them,  it  would  be  the  means  of  enlarg- 
ing his  scanty  income. 

Where  is  the  reason  to  be  found  ? 


Samuel  Wesley's  brother  John  says, 
"  he  was  no  more  a  Jacobite  than  he 
was  a  Turk."  (See  Oentleman's  Maga- 
zine for  1785,  page  246.) 

Nay  ;  the  story  is  recited  by  Samuel 
Wesley,  sen.,  in  the  Defence  of  his 
Letter,  published  by  himself,  in  1704. 

When  Mr  Milner  wrote  thLs,  he  knew 
that  Mr  Wesley  was  not  a  member  of 
the  club ;  and  that,  so  far  from  frequent- 
ing its  meetings,  he  was  never  there  but 
once,  and  then  he  came  away  disgusted. 

Perhaps  it  was  imprudent  for  him  to 
have  been  in  such  a  disreputable  place  ; 
but  he  left  it,  "  indignant  at  the  villan- 
ous  principles  and  practices "  he  had 
witnessed  :  and  never  went  again. 

No  one  says  it  was.  He  left  the  Dis- 
senters years  before  this.  But,  if  the 
scene  at  the  Calves-head  Club  was  not 
the  cause  of  his  leaving  the  Dissenters, 
it  was  the  cause  of  his  writing  his  letter 
respecting  Dissenting  Academies. 

The  only  band  of  profligates  with 
whom  Wesley  associated  in  his  youth 
were  the  profligates  at  the  Dissenting 
academies,  and,  in  one  instance,  a  band 
of  profligates  at  the  Calves-head  Club, 
who  called  themselves  Dissenters. 

We  do  not,  for  a  single  moment, 
entertain  the  thought  that  the  Calves- 
head  Club  had  the  approbation  of  the 
Dissenters  as  a  whole,  or  of  even  any 
considerable  minority;  but  still,  there 
cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  members 
of  the  club  were  men  who  considered 
themselves  Dissenters,  notwithstanding 
their  utter  unfitness  to  be  members  of 
any  Dissenting  Church. 


We  have  thus  fully  stated  all  the  hard  things  which  Mr  Wes- 


294  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  "WESLEY.  [l705. 

ley's  enemies  have  thought  fit  to  say  against  him,  and,  in  this 
summary  way,  have  replied  to  them.  Those  who  wish  for  further 
refutations  must  refer  again  to  the  pages  they  have  already  read. 
Defoe's  accusation  is  calumnious  slander  of  the  worst  description. 
Chadwick  is  a  man  whose  vulgar  ravings  are  hardly  worthy  of 
being  noticed.  The  life  of  a  man  like  Dr  Watts  is  blurred  and 
blotted  by  such  utterly  false,  if  not  malignant,  charges  as  those 
which  the  writer  has  brought  against  Mr  Wesley.  We  have  no 
quarrel  with  Mr  Milner  on  account  of  his  attempt  to  show  that 
the  Calves-head  Club  was  an  infamous  association,  which  the  Dis- 
senting body,  as  a  whole,  condemned ;  but  he  had  no  right  to  im- 
peach the  veracity  of  Mr  Wesley,  and,  by  a  mean  insinuation,  to 
try  to  cast  upon  him  the  disgrace  of  the  possibility  that  he  him- 
self was  a  member  of  this  godless  gang.  That  is  an  ungenerous 
reproach,  which  none  but  an  irritated  man  would  have  ventured 
to  employ.  The  barbarous  Calves-head  Club  was  a  disgraceful 
association,  of  which  the  great  bulk  of  the  Dissenters  totally 
disapproved ;  for  it  is  cheerfully  acknowledged  that  some  classes 
of  the  Dissenters  were  deejjly  averse  to  the  murder  of  King 
Charles  I.,  and  were  among  the  first  to  welcome  his  son  Charles 
II.,  to  the  English  monarchy ;  but  while  all  this  is  most  readily 
allowed,  we  submit  that  this  is  no  refutation  of  the  statement  that 
the  members  of  that  abominable  club  declared  themselves  to  be 
Dissenters  ;  nor  is  it  any  excuse  for  Mr  Milner's  attack  on  Mr 
Wesley's  veracity,  and  especially  for  his  unworthy  suggestion  that 
Mr  Wesley  himself  might  be  an  associate  of  the  profligate  fellows 
of  which  the  Calves-head  Club  consisted. 

Believing  Mr  Wesley  to  be  unimpeachable  in  the  painful  busi- 
ness that  has  been  here  discussed,  and  feeling  that  his  character 
and  rank  in  society  make  it  of  some  importance  to  keep  his  fair 
fame  without  a  blot,  we  offer  no  apology  for  this  lengthened,  and, 
perhaps,  tedious  chapter  in  his  history.  Dr  Adam  Clarke  sums 
up  the  whole  in  terms  to  which  we  find  it  impossible  to  assent. 
He  writes  :  "  In  the  heat  of  his  zeal  for  the  Church,  after  his  con- 
version from  dissenting  principles,  Mr  Samuel  Wesley,  in  his  con- 
troversial writings,  often  overstepped  the  bounds  of  Christian  mo- 
deration." Did  he?  We  have  read  the  whole  of  his  controversial 
writings  ;  ?ind,  finding  no  proof  of  this,  we  respectfully  doubt  it. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  IMPEISONED  FATHEE. — 1705-1709. 

It  was  about  this  period  of  Mr  "Wesley's  history  that  he  wished 
and  proposed  to  go  as  a  missionary  to  the  East  Indies.  The  only 
English  missionary  society  then  existing  was  the  Society  for  Pro- 
pagating the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  This  society  was  instituted 
by  King  William  III.  in  1701,  and  had  for  its  object  the  main- 
tenance of  clergymen  in  the  British  plantations,  colonies,  and  fac- 
tories. It  was  managed  by  a  board  of  ninety  persons,  including 
the  two  archbishops,  several  bishops,  and  a  number  of  the  nobility, 
gentry,  and  clergy. 

Mr  Wesley^s  scheme  was  threefold.  First,  he  proposed  to  in- 
quire into  the  state  of  English  colonists,  in  all  the  English  factories 
and  settlements,  from  St  Helena  to  India  and  China ;  travelling 
wherever  it  was  possible  to  travel,  either  by  land  or  sea ;  and 
where  that  could  not  be  done,  making  the  same  inquiry  by  means 
of  correspondence  from  Surat,  which  he  seems  to  have  intended 
to  be  his  place  of  residence.  He  wished  to  inquire  into  the  num- 
ber of  the  English  colonists,  their  morals,  and  their  ministers ; 
and  to  revive  among  them  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  by  catechising, 
by  good  books,  and  by  other  means  of  the  same  description. 

The  second  part  of  his  scheme  had  reference  to  other  Churches. 
He  would  endeavour  to  open  a  correspondence  with  the  Church 
of  Abyssinia,  or,  if  the  English  board  of  management  thought  fit, 
he  would  try  to  pierce  into  that  country  himself.  He  would  also 
personally  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  poor  Christians  of  St 
Thomas,  who  were  scattered  all  over  India,  and  would  settle  a 
correspondence  between  them  and  the  Church  of  England.  He 
also  proposed  to  convey  Protestant  books  among  the  Roman 
Catholics,  translated  into  the  language  of  the  countries  where  he 
found  them  dwelling. 

Then,  in  the  third  place,  he  would  exert  himself  to  benefit  the 


296  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l705. 

heathen  natives.  He  would  endeavour  to  learn  the  language  of 
Hindostan,  that  he  might  be  able  to  reason  and  to  preach  to  the 
people  in  their  native  tongue,  and  so  convert  them  and  their 
Brahmins  to  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 

He  acknowledges  that  he  is  not  "  sufficient  for  the  least  of 
these  designs,  much  less  for  all  together ;  but  it  would  be  well 
worth  dying  for  to  make  some  progress  in  any  one  of  them ;  and 
he  would  expect  the  same  assistance  as  to  kind,  though  not  to 
degree,  which  was  granted  of  old  to  the  first  planters  of  the 
gospel." 

He  thinks  that  if  the  East  India  Company  were  made  acquainted 
with  his  scheme  they  might  deem  it  worthy  of  encouragement ; 
and  he  also  hopes  that  Queen  Anne  might  be  prevailed  upon  to 
grant  it  her  royal  favour ;  but  even  should  the  Queen  and  the 
East  India  Company  give  him  no  encouragement,  he  was  still 
prepared  to  go  on  two  conditions — 1.  That  he  be  allowed  £140 
a  year;  £100  of  which  he  would  devote  to  his  own  expenses, 
and  the  remaining  £40  to  a  curate  employed  to  take  his  place  at 
Epworth.  And  2.  That,  in  case  of  his  decease  while  upon  his 
mission,  provision  might  be  made  for  the  subsistence  of  his  family, 
they,  of  course,  being  supported  while  he  lived  by  the  income  of 
his  rectory. 

Such  was  Samuel  Wesley's  noble  plan  to  go  as  a  missionary, 
for  £100  a  year,  to  St  Helena,  Abyssinia,  India,  and  China.  Per- 
haps communications  from  his  wife's  brother,  Samuel  Annesley, 
jun.,  now  resident  in  India,  might  have  excited  within  him  some 
amount  of  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  inhabitants  of  that 
country ;  but,  over  and  above  all  that,  he  was  animated  with  a 
;^eal  for  God  and  a  love  for  the  souls  of  men  which  made  him 
willing  not  only, to  encounter  hardship  and  danger,  but  even  death 
in  his  great  missionary  project.  His  father,  John  Wesley  of 
Whitchurch,  was  inspired  with  the  same  spirit ;  and,  when  forbid 
to  preach  in  England,  longed  to  go  to  Surinam,  in  Guiana,  or  to 
Maryland,  in  America,  as  a  missionary  among  the  English  settlers 
there.  The  father's  heroic  spirit  was  the  spirit  of  the  son,  and 
also  of  the  grandsons,  John  and  Charles,  who,  full  of  zeal  for  the 
Most  High,  tore  themselves  from  their  friends  at  Oxford,  and, 
almost  without  scrip  or  purse,  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  preach  the 
glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed  God  to  the  different  tribes  of  Ame- 
rican Indians. 


AGE  43.]  THE  IMPKISONED  FATHEE.  297 

Samuel  Wesley's  proposal  was  not  adopted ;  but  it  was  not  on 
that  account  the  less  honourable  to  his  head  and  heart. 

On  the  5th  of  April  1705,  Queen  Anne  dissolved  by  procla- 
mation the  high  Tory  House  of  Commons,  and,  of  course,  this  was 
followed  by  a  general  election.  Whigs  and  Tories  now  exerted 
themselves  to  the  uttermost.  Party  struggles  throughout  the 
kingdom  were  most  vehement.  The  clergy  generally  were  in 
favour  of  the  Tories,  and  took  great  pains  to  infuse  into  the  people 
tragical  apprehensions,  that,  if  the  Whigs  obtained  a  majority, 
the  Church  would  be  in  danger.  The  universities  took  the  same 
side  of  the  question,  and  "  the  Church  in  danger  "  was  the  election 
cry  of  the  Tory  party. 

The  contest  for  the  county  of  Lincoln  was  extremely  violent. 
The  late  members,  Sir  John  Thorold  and  Mr  Dymoke,  were  Tories. 
Their  opponents.  Colonel  Whichcott  and  Mr  Bertie,  were  Whigs. 
Mr  Wesley  was  early  and  zealously  canvassed  by  both  parties. 
At  first,  he  promised  to  do  what  was  exceeding  fair,  viz.,  to  vote 
for  Thorold  and  Whichcott,  and  thus  give  to  each  party  the  benefit 
of  his  example  and  of  his  influence.  In  course  of  time,  the  party- 
cry  reached  the  Isle  of  Axholme.  Thorold  and  Dymoke  stood  up 
for  royalty  and  the  Church ;  Whichcott  and  Bertie,  both  Church- 
men, threw  themselves  into  the  hands  of  the  Dissenters.  By  the 
Whig  party,  the  Church,  the  clergy,  and  "  the  memory  of  the 
martyr  were  openly  scandalised ; "  and  it  now  became  a  serious 
question  with  Mr  Wesley  whether  he  should  fulfil  his  promise  to 
vote  for  a  man  whose  party  were  tlius  assailing  the  Church  he  so 
much  loved ;  and,  though  it  was  "  equally  against  his  inclination 
and  his  interest,  he  determined  to  drop  both  when  honour  and 
conscience  were  concerned,  and  to  vote  for  the  friends  of  the 
Church."  As  soon  as  this  was  known,  the  Whigs  loaded  him  and 
his  family  with  every  kind  of  insult  and  persecution  within  their 
power.  On  the  steps  of  bis  own  church,  he  was  called  "rascal 
and  scoundrel ; "  but  we  will  permit  him  to  tell  his  own  story. 
In  a  letter  to  Archbishop  Sharpe,  dated  "  Epworth,  June  7, 1705," 
he  writes : — 

"  I  went  to  Lincoln  on  Tuesday  night.  May  29th,  and  the  elec- 
tion began  on  Wednesday,  30th.  A  great  part  of  the  night  our 
isle  people  kept  drumming,  shouting,  and  firing  of  pistols  and 
guns  under  the  windows  where  my  wife  lay,  who  had  been  brought 
to  bed  not  three  weeks  before.     I  had  put  the  child  to  nurse  over 


298  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l705. 

against  my  own  house ;  the  noise  kept  his  nurse  waking  till  one 
or  two  in  the  morning.  Then  they  left  off;  and  the  nurse  being 
heavy  to  sleep,  overlaid  the  child.  She  waked,  and  finding  it 
dead,  ran  with  it  to  my  house  almost  distracted,  and  calling  my 
servants,  threw  it  into  their  arms.  They,  as  wise  as  she,  ran  up 
with  it  to  my  wife,  and,  before  she  was  well  awake,  threw  it  cold 
and  dead  into  hers.  She  composed  herself  as  well  as  she  could, 
and  that  day  got  it  buried. 

"  A  clergyman  met  me  in  (Lincoln)  Castle  yard,  and  told  me  to 
withdraw,  for  the  isle  men  intended  me  a  mischief.  Another  told 
me  he  had  heard  near  twenty  of  them  say,  '  If  they  got  me  in  the 
castle  yard  they  would  squeeze  my  guts  out.'  My  servant  had  the 
same  advice.     I  went  by  Gainsborough,  and  God  preserved  me. 

"When  they  knew  I  was  got  home  they  sent  the  drum  and 
mob,  with  guns,  &c.,  as  usual,  to  compliment  me  till  after  mid- 
night. One  of  them  passing  by  on  Friday  evening,  and  seeing 
my  children  in  the  yard,  cried  out,  '  0  ye  devils !  we  will  come 
and  turn  ye  all  out  of  doors  a  begging  shortly.'  God  convert  them 
and  forgive  them  ! 

"All  this,  thank  God,  does  not  in  the  least  sink  my  wife's 
spirits.  For  my  own,  I  feel  them  disturbed  and  disordered ;  but, 
for  all  that,  I  am  going  on  with  my  reply  to  Palmer,  which, 
whether  I  am  in  prison  or  out  of  it,  I  hope  to  get  finished  by  the 
next  session  of  parliament,  for  I  have  now  no  more  regiments  to 
lose." 

What  had  Wesley  done  to  deserve  outrages  like  these  ?  He 
had  withdrawn  his  promise  to  vote  for  Whichcott,  the  Dissenters' 
candidate,  because  the  Dissenters,  for  election  purposes,  began 
to  abuse  the  Church,  the  clergy,  and  the  memory  of  Charles  I. 
And,  secondly,  he  had  "  concerned  himself  in  the  election  of  the 
county,  which  he  thought  he  had  as  much  right  to  do  as  any 
other  freeholder."*  For  this  claim  of  freedom  to  vote  as  he 
thought  proper,  the  professed  friends  of  freedom  deemed  it 
their  duty  to  subject  him  and  his  family  to  all  this  insult  and 
injury.  Is  it  surprising  that,  after  this,  Samuel  Wesley  should 
look  askance  upon  his  old  friends,  the  Dissenters ;  and  that,  to 
some  extent,  he  should,  as  Wesleyan  biographers  have  stated,  ally 
himself  to  the  opponents  of  Dissenters,  the  "  High  Flyers"  of  the 
Church  of  England  ? 

*  Kirk's  Mother  of  the  Weskyx,  p.  89,  90. 


AGE  43.]  THE  IMPRISONED  FATHER.  299 

In  the  last  sentence  of  the  foregoing  letter,  there  is  an  expres- 
sion which  must  be  noticed.  Wesley  says,  "  I  have  no  more  re- 
giments to  lose."  An  explanation  will  be  found  in  the  following 
narrative  :^ 

For  above  thirty  years,  John  Churchill,  Duke  of  Marlborough, 
had  pursued  the  military  life  with  amazing  ability  and  success. 
He  had  married  Sarah  Jennings,  the  companion  of  Princess  Anne. 
On  the  accession  of  Anne,  he  was  appointed  captain-general  of  the 
forces  at  home  and  abroad,  with  an  allowance  of  £1 0,000  a  year. 
After  a  succession  of  marvellous  victories,  he  fought  and  won  the 
battle  of  Blenheim,  in  August  1704.  In  this  battle,  the  French  and 
Bavarians  lost  nearly  forty  thousand  men,  or  about  two-thirds  of 
their  entire  army.  Thirteen  thousand  were  made  prisoners,  among 
whom  were  twelve  hundred  officers.  Ten  French  battalions  were 
wholly  cut  to  pieces ;  and  thirty  squadrons  of  horse  and  dragoons 
were  forced  into  the  Danube,  most  of  whom  were  drowned. 
Marlborough  took  above  one  hundred  cannon,  twenty-four  mortars, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  colours,  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  standards,  seventeen  pair  of  kettle-drums,  three  thousand  six- 
hundred  tents,  thirty-four  coaches,  three  hundred  laden  mules, 
two  bridges  of  boats,  fourteen  pontoons,  and  eight  casks  of  sil- 
ver. His  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was  twelve  thousand.  The 
hero  received  the  thanks  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament ;  the  city 
entertained  him  with  a  splendid  feast ;  the  colours  taken  from 
the  enemy  were  paraded  from  one  extremity  of  London  to  the 
other ;  the  Queen  gave  to  him  and  to  his  heirs  for  ever  the  manor 
of  Woodstock  and  the  hundred  of  Wootton,  and  caused  a  palace, 
Blenheim  House,  to  be  built  for  him.  His  prime  fault  was  his 
avarice.  "  The  desire  of  accumulating  money,"  says  John  Wesley^ 
"attended  him  in  all  his  triumphs,  and  threw  a  stain  upon  his 
character.  In  the  whole,  he  received  above  £52.3,000  of  the  public 
money,  which  he  never  accounted  for,  and  probably  received  some 
millions  by  plunder  and  presents."*     He  died  in  1722. 

Such  was  the  man  whose  exploits  Samuel  Wesley  celebrated  in 
1705.  His  poem  is  a  folio  pamphlet  of  twelve  pages,  and  is 
"  dedicated  to  the  Eight  Honourable  Master  Godolphin."  With  one 
or  two  exceptions,  perhaps  this  is  the  most  finished  poem  that 
Samuel  Wesley  ever  wrote.  It  consists  of  five  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  lines,  many  of  them  containing  beauties  of  the  highest  order. 

*  Wesley's  History  of  England. 


SOO  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l705. 

In  consequence  of  this  poem,  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  made 
him  chaplain  to  Colonel  Lepelle's  regiment,  which  was  to  stay  in 
England  for  some  time  ;  and  a  nobleman  sent  for  him  to  London, 
promising  to  procure  him  a  prebend.  All  this,  however,  hap- 
pened while  he  was  in  the  midst  of  his  controversy  with  Mr 
Palmer,  and  the  result  was,  his  old  friends,  the  irritated  Dissen- 
ters, who  had  powerful  influence  both  in  parliament  and  at  court, 
succeeded  in  jDreventing  him  obtaining  the  cathedral  appointment; 
and,  also,  soon  worked  him  out  of  the  military  chaplainship,  which 
was  actually  given  him  * 

It  is  to  the  last  of  these  mean  and  revengeful  actions  he  refers 
when,  in  the  foregoing  letter,  he  remarks  "  I  have  no  more  regi- 
ments to  lose." 

Samuel  Wesley's  dissenting  controversy  involved  him  and  his 
family  in  terrible  trials.  Some  have  been  related,  others  yet 
remain.  The  following  letter  to  Archbishop  Sharpe  was  written 
within  a  month  after  the  general  election  : — 

"  Lincoln  Castle,  June  25,  1705. 
"  My  Loed, — Now  I  am  at  rest,  for  I  have  come  to  the  haven 
where  I  have  long  expected  to  be.  On  Friday  last,  when  I  had  been 
christening  a  child  at  Epworth,  I  was  arrested  in  my  churchyard 
by  one  who  had  been  my  servant  and  gathered  my  tithe  last  year, 
at  the  suit  of  one  of  Mr  Whichcott's  relations  and  zealous  friends, 
(Mr  Pinder,)  according  to  their  promise,  when  they  were  in  the 
isle,  before  the  election.  The  sum  was  not  £30 ;  but  it  was  as 
good  as  five  hundred.  Now,  they  knew  the  burning  of  my  flax, 
my  London  journey,  and  their  throwing  me  out  of  my  regiment, 
had  both  sunk  my  credit  and  exhausted  my  money.  My  adver- 
sary was  sent  to  when  I  was  on  the  road,  to  meet  me,  that  I  might 
make  some  proposals  to  him.  But  all  his  answer  was  that,  'I  must 
immediately  pay  the  whole  sum  or  go  to  prison.'  Thither  I  went 
with  no  great  concern  for  myself,  and  find  much  more  civility 
and  satisfaction  here  than  in  bevibus  gyaris  of  my  own  Epworth. 
I  thank  God,  my  wife  was  pretty  well  recovered,  and  was  churched 
some  days  before  I  was  taken  from  her ;  and  I  hope  she  will  be 
able  to  look  to  my  family,  if  they  do  not  turn  them  out  of  doors, 
as  they  have  often  threatened  to  do.  One  of  my  biggest  concerns 
was  my  being  forced  to  leave  my  poor  lambs  in  the  midst  of  so 
*  Whitehead's  Life  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley. 


AGE  43.]  THE  IMPPJSONED  FATHEE.  SOI 

many  wolves.  But  the  Great  Shepherd  is  able  to  provide  for  them, 
and  to  preserve  them.  My  wife  bears  it  with  that  courage  which 
becomes  her,  and  which  I  expected  from  her. 

"  I  do  not  despair  of  doing  some  good  here,  and  it  may  be,  I 
shall  do  more  in  this  new  parish  than  in  my  old  one ;  for  I 
have  leave  to  read  prayers  every  morning  and  afternoon  in  the 
prison,  and  to  preach  once  a  Sunday,  which  I  choose  to  do  in  the 
afternoon,  when  there  is  no  sermon  at  the  minster.  I  am  getting 
acquainted  with  my  brother  gaol-birds  as  fast  as  I  can,  and  shall 
write  to  London  next  post,  to  the  Society  for  Propagating  Chris- 
tian Knowledge,  who,  I  hope,  will  send  me  some  books  to  distri- 
bute among  them. 

"  I  should  not  write  these  things  from  a  gaol  if  I  thought  your 
Grace  would  believe  me  ever  the  less  for  my  being  here;  where,  if 
I  should  lay  my  bones,  I  would  bless  God  and  pray  for  your 
Grace. — Your  Grace's  very  obliged  and  most  humble  servant, 

"  S.  Wesley." 

Five  days  afterwards,  the  good  archbishop  wrote  a  sympathis- 
ing letter ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  stated  what  he  had  heard 
against  him.  This  letter  Mr  Wesley  answered ;  gave  a  satisfac- 
tory account  of  all  his  affairs,  and  showed  that  the  reports  which 
had  reached  the  archbishop  were  perfectly  false,  and  adduced 
proof  of  this.     He  then  continues  his  letter  as  follows  : — 

"  Lincoln  Castle,  July  10,  1705. 

"  My  Loed, — I  am  not  forgotten,  neither  by  God  nor  by  your 
lordship.  My  debts  are  about  £300,  which  I  have  contracted  by 
a  series  of  misfortunes  not  unknown  to  your  Grace,  The  falling 
of  my  parsonage  barn  before  I  had  recovered  the  taking  my  living  ; 
the  burning  of  a"great  part  of  my  dwelling-house  about  two  years 
since,  and  all  my  flax  last  winter ;  the  fall  of  my  income  nearly 
one-half,  by  the  low  prices  of  grain  ;  the  almost  entire  failure  of 
my  flax  this  year,  which  used  to  be  the  better  half  of  my  revenue  ; 
together  with  my  numerous  family,  and  the  taking  this  regiment 
from  me,  which  I  had  obtained  with  so  much  expense  and  trouble, — 
have  at  last  crushed  me,  though  I  struggled  as  long  as  I  was  able. 
Yet  I  hope  to  rise  again,  as  I  have  always  done  when  at  the 
lowest ;  and  I  think  I  cannot  be  much  lower  now. 

"  Do  not  be  in  haste  to  credit  what  they  report  of  me,  for  really 


302  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l705. 

lies  are  the  manufacture  of  tlie  party;  and  they  have  raised  so 
many  against  me,  and  spread  them  so  wide,  that  I  am  sometimes 
tempted  to  print  my  case  in  my  own  vindication." 

The  party  whom  Wesley  had  opposed  had  prevented  him  ob- 
taining a  prebend,  had  wrested  from  him  a  regimental  chaplaincy, 
had  indirectly  occasioned  the  death  of  his  infant  child,  had  loaded 
him  with  obloquy,  and  had  cast  him  into  prison.  Surely  this 
was  punishment  enough  for  the  publication  of  his  unlucky  letter, 
and  his  two  pamphlets  in  defence  of  it,  and  for  the  vote  which  he 
had  given  at  the  general  election  of  1765.  But  not  so.  Two 
months  after  writing  the  foregoing  letter,  he  poured  fresh  sorrows 
into  the  ear  of  his  friend,  the  archbishop.     He  writes : — 

"  Lincoln  Castle,  Sept.  12,  1705. 

"  My  Lord, — It  is  happy  for  me  that  your  Grace  has  enter- 
tained no  ill  opinion  of  me,  and  will  not  alter  what  you  have 
entertained  without  reason.  But  it  is  still  happier  that  I  serve  a 
Master  who  cannot  be  deceived,  and  who,  I  am  sure,  will  never 
forsake  me.  A  jail  is  a  paradise  in  comparison  of  the  life  I  led 
before  I  came  hither.  No  man  has  worked  truer  for  bread  than 
I  have  done,  and  few  have  lived  harder,  or  their  families  either. 
I  am  grown  weary  of  vindicating  myself;  not,  I  thank  God,  that 
my  spirits  sink,  or  that  I  have  not  right  on  my  side,  but  because 
I  have  almost  a  whole  world  against  me ;  aud  therefore  shall,  in 
the  main,  leave  my  cause  to  the  righteous  Judge. 

"  A  few  weeks  ago,  in  the  night,  since  I  came  hither,  my  ene- 
mies stabbed  my  cows,  endeavouring  thereby  to  starve  my  forlorn 
family  in  my  absence  ;  my  cows  being  all  dried  by  it,  which  was 
their  chief  subsistence ;  though  I  hope  they  had  not  the  power  to 
kill  any  of  them  outright. 

"  After  it  was  done,  to  divert  the  cry  of  the  world  against  them, 
they  spread  a  report  that  my  own  brawn  (boar)  did  this  mischief ; 
though  at  first  they  said  my  cows  ran  against  a  scythe  and 
wounded  themselves. 

"As  for  the  brawn,  any  impartial  jury  would  bring  him  in  not 
guilty,  on  hearing  the  evidence.  There  were  three  cows  all 
wounded  at  the  same  time,  one  of  them  in  three  places ;  the  big- 
gest was  a  flesh  wound,  not  slanting,  but  directly  in  towards  the 
heart,  which  it  only  missed  by  glancing  outward  on  the  rib.  It 
was  nine  inches  deep  ;  whereas  the  brawn's  tusks  were  hardly  two 


AGE  43.]  THE  IMPEISONED  FATHEK.  303 

inches  long.  All  conclude  that  the  work  was  done  with  a  sword, 
by  the  breadth  and  shape  of  the  orifice. 

"  The  same  night  the  iron  latch  of  my  door  was  twined  off,  and 
the  wood  hacked  in  order  to  shoot  back  the  lock,  which  nobody 
will  think  was  with  an  intention  to  rob  my  family.  My  house- 
dog, who  made  a  huge  noise  within  doors,  was  sufficiently  pun- 
ished for  his  want  of  politics  and  moderation ;  for,  the  next  day 
but  one,  his  leg  was  almost  chopped  off  by  an  unknown  hand. 

"  It  is  not  every  one  that  could  bear  these  things :  but,  I  bless 
God,  my  wife  is  less  concerned  with  suffering  them  than  I  am  in 
the  writing,  or  than  I  believe  your  Grace  will  be  in  reading  them. 
She  is  not  what  she  is  represented,  any  more  than  I  am.  I  be- 
lieve it  was  this  foul  beast  of  a  worse-than-Erymanthean  boar, 
already  mentioned,  who  fired  my  flax  by  rubbing  his  tusks  against 
the  wall ;  but  that  was  no  great  matter,  since  it  is  now  reported 
I  had  but  £5  loss. 

"  0  my  lord  !  I  once  more  repeat  it,  that  I  shall  sometime  have 
a  more  equal  Judge  than  any  in  this  world. 

"  Most  of  my  friends  advise  me  to  leave  Epworth,  if  ever  I 
shoiild  get  from  hence.  I  confess  I  am  not  of  that  mind,  because 
I  may  yet  do  good  there ;  and  it  is  like  a  coward  to  desert  my 
post  because  the  enemy  fire  thick  upon  me.  They  have  only 
wounded  me  yet,  and,  I  believe,  cannot  kill  me.  I  hope  to  be  at 
home  at  Christmas.  God  help  my  poor  family !  For  myself,  I 
have  but  one  life,  but  while  that  lasts,  shall  be  your  Grace's  ever 
obliged  and  most  humble  servant,  S.  Wesley." 

Such  were  the  sufferings  inflicted  by  unrelenting  enemies  upon^ 
a  man  with  a  sickly  wife  and  eight  young  children.  Such  con- 
duct was  outrageous,  and  admits  of  no  excuse.  Five  days  after 
the  above  letter  was  sent  off*,  the  poor  prisoner  wrote  another  ta 
the  same  excellent  archbishop  : — 

"  Lincoln  Castle,  Sept.  17, 1705. 
"  My  Lord, — I  am  so  full  of  God's  mercies  that  neither  my 
eyes  nor  my  heart  can  hold  them.  When  I  came  hither,  my 
stock  was  but  little  above  ten  shillings,  and  my  wife's  at  home 
scarce  so  much.  She  soon  sent  me  her  rings,  because  she  had 
nothing  else  to  relieve  me  with ;  but  I  returned  them,  and  God 
soon  provided  for  me.     The  most  of  those  who  have  been  my 


304  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1705, 

benefactors  keep  themselves  concealed.  But  they  are  all  known 
to  Him  who  first  put  it  into  their  hearts  to  show  rae  so  much 
kindness ;  and  I  beg  your  Grace  to  assist  me  to  praise  God  for  it, 
and  to  pray  for  His  blessing  upon  them. 

"  This  day  I  have  received  a  letter  from  Mr  Hoar,  that  he  has 
paid  £95,  which  he  has  received  from  me.  He  adds  that  '  a  very 
great  man  has  just  sent  them  £30  more  ; '  he  mentions  not  his 
name,  though  surely  it  must  be  my  patron.  I  find  I  walk  a  deal 
lighter;  and  I  hope  I  shall  sleep  better  now  that  these  sums  are  paid, 
which  will  make  almost  half  my  debts.  I  am  a  bad  beggar,  and 
worse  at  returning  formal  thanks ;  but  I  can  heartily  pray  for  my 
benefactors  ;  and  I  hope  I  shall  do  it  while  I  live,  and  so  long  beg 
to  be  esteemed,  your  Grace's  most  obliged,  and  thankful  humble 
servant,  ,  Sam.  Wesley." 

It  is  uncertain  how  much  longer  Mr  "Wesley  was  kept  in  Lin- 
coln Castle ;  but  four  months  after  this  he  was  once  more  at  his 
home  at  Epworth.  Archbishop  Sharpe  and  others  were  extremely 
kind,  and  the  following  additional  anecdote  of  his  Grace's  thought- 
ful sympathy,  deserves  insertion.  Mrs  Wesley  writes  : — "  When 
my  master  was  in  Lincoln  Castle,  the  late  Archbishop  of  York 
said  to  me,  '  Tell  me,  Mrs  Wesley,  whether  you  ever  really  wanted 
bread  ? '  My  lord,  said  I,  I  will  freely  own  to  your  Grace  that, 
strictly  speaking,  I  never  did  want  bread.  But  then,  I  had  so 
much  care  to  get  it  before  it  was  ate,  and  to  pay  for  it  after,  as 
has  often  made  it  very  unpleasant  to  me.  And  I  think  to  have 
bread  on  such  terms  is  the  next  degree  of  wretchedness  to  having 
none  at  all.  '  You  are  certainly  in  the  right,'  replied  his  lordship, 
who  seemed  for  a  while  very  thoughtful.  Next  morning  he  made 
me  a  handsome  present ;  nor  did  he  ever  repent  having  done  so. 
On  the  contrary,  I  have  reason  to  believe  it  afforded  him  comfort- 
able reflections  before  his  death."* 

Thus  wrote  Susannah  Wesley  respecting  one  of  her  husband's 
friends.  Hear  what  she  says  respecting  one  of  his  enemies. 
"Last  Thursday,  (May  1706,)  a  very  sad  accident  happened  here. 
Eobert  Darwin,  a  man  of  this  town,  was  at  Bawtry  Fair,  where 
l^e  got  drunk ;  and,  riding  homeward  down  a  hill,  his  horse  came 
down  with  him,  and  he  fell  with  his  face  to  the  ground,  and  put 
his  neck  out  of  joint.  Those  with  him  immediately  pulled  it  in 
*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family,  vol.  i.  p.  391. 


AGE  43.]  THE  IMPKISONED  FATHEE.  305 

again,  and  he  lived  till  next  day  ;  but  he  never  spoke  more.  His 
face  was  torn  all  to  pieces,  one  of  his  eyes  beat  out,  his  under  lip  cub 
off,  and  his  nose  broken  down.  In  short,  he  was  one  of  the  dread- 
fullest  examples  of  the  severe  justice  of  God  that  I  have  known. 
This  man,  as  he  was  one  of  the  richest  in  this  place,  (Epworth,)  so 
he  was  one  of  the  most  implacable  enemies  your  father  had  among 
his  parishioners  ;  one  that  insulted  him  most  basely  in  his  troubles, 
one  that  was  ready  to  do  him  all  the  mischief  he  could ;  not  to 
mention  his  affronts  to  me  and  the  children,  and  how  heartily  he 
wished  to  see  our  ruin.  This  man,  and  one  more,  have  been  now 
cut  off,  in  the  midst  of  their  sins,  since  your  father's  confinement.'  * 

The  heroic  wife,  during  the  rector's  impri.'jonraent,  evinced  for- 
titude, fidelity,  and  love,  worthy  of  herself.  Money  she  bad  none, 
— not  a  coin  ;  the  household  lived  on  bread  and  milk,  the  pro- 
duce of  the  Epworth  glebe  ;  but  she  did  what  she  could  to  help  her 
husband  in  his  strait ; — she  sent  him  her  little  articles  of  jewellery, 
including  her  wedding-ring ;  but  these  he  sent  her  back,  as  things 
far  too  sacred  to  be  used  in  relieving  his  necessities.  Brave- 
hearted  couple  !  The  wife  did  her  duty ;  but  the  husband's  soul 
was  far  too  noble  to  avail  himself  of  such  a  sacrifice. 

In  his  "Pious  Communicant,"  published  in  1700,  Samuel 
Wesley  puts  into  the  reader's  mouth  a  beautiful  prayer,  which  he 
had  doubtless  often  offered  on  his  own  behalf,  and  which,  in  his 
present  circumstances,  was  peculiarly  appropriate.  The  prayer, 
for  itself,  is  worth  preserving ;  and,  in  a  narrative  like  this,  is  of 
some  importance,  as  illustrating  the  thoroughly  devout  and  Chris- 
tian spirit  of  this  much- tried  godly  minister.     It  is  as  follows  : — ■ 

"  A  PRAYEK  FOR  ONE  IN  AFFLICTION  AND  WANT. 

"  0  God  !  who  art  infinite  in  power,  and  compassion,  and  good-^ 
ness,  and  truth  !  who  hast  promised  in  Thy  holy  Word,  that  Thou 
wilt  hear  the  prayer  of  the  poor  destitute,  and  wilt  not  despise  his  de- 
sire. Look  down,  I  beseech  thee,  from  heaven,  the  habitation  of  Thy 
holiness  and  glory,  upon  me  a  miserable  sinner,  now  lying  under 
Thy  hand  in  great  affliction  and  sorrow.  I  am  weary  of  my 
groaning,  my  heart  faileth  me.  The  light  of  my  eyes  is  gone 
from  me,  I  sink  in  the  deep  waters,  and  there  is  none  to  help  me ; 
yet  I  wait  still  upon  Thee  my  God.  Though  all  the  world  forsake 
me,  let  the  Lord  still  uphold  me,  and  in  Him  let  me  always  find 
*  Methodist  McCgazine,  1846,  p.  667. 

U 


306  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l705. 

the  truest,  the  kindest,  the  most  compassionate,  unwearied  al- 
miglity  friendship.  To  Him  let  me  ease  my  wearied  soul,  and 
unbosom  all  my  sorrows  ! 

"  Help  me,  0  Lord  !  against  hope  to  believe  in  hope  !  Grant 
that  I  may  not  be  moved  with  all  the  slights  and  censures  of  a 
mistaken  world.  Let  me  look  by  faith  beyond  this  vale  of  tears 
and  misery,  to  that  happy  place  which  knows  no  pain,  or  want,  or 
sorrows.  I  know,  0  Lord !  that  a  man's  life  consists  not  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  that  he  possesses,  but  that  he  who  has 
the  most  here,  as  he  brought  nothing  with  him  into  this  world,  so 
he  shall  carry  nothing  out.  I  bless  Thee  that  Thou  hast  not 
given  me  my  portion  among  those  who  have  received  all  their 
consolation  here,  whose  portion  is  in  this  life  only.  Neither  let 
me  expect  those  blessings  which  Thou  hast  promised  to  the  poor, 
unless  I  am  really  poor  in  spirit,  and  meek,  and  humble.  I  know 
nothing  is  impossible  with  God,  and  that  it  is  Thou  alone  who 
givest  power  to  get  riches,  and  that  Thou  canst  by  Thy  good  pro- 
vidence, raise  me  from  this  mean  condition,  whenever  Thou  pleas- 
est,  and  will  certainly  do  it,  if  it  be  best  for  me.  I  therefore 
humbly  submit  all  unto  Thy  wise  and  kind  disposal.  I  desire  not 
wealth  or  greatness.  Give  me  neither  extreme  poverty,  nor  do  I 
ask  riches  of  Thee,  but  only  to  be  fed  with  food  convenient  for 
me.  I  desire  earnestly  to  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the 
righteousness  thereof,  well  hoping  that,  in  Thy  good  time,  food  and 
raiment,  and  all  other  things  that  be  needful  shall  be  added  unto 
me.  I  believe,  0  Lord !  that  Thou  who  feedest  the  ravens,  and 
clothest  the  lilies,  wilt  not  neglect  me  and  mine, — that  thou  wilt 
make  good  Thy  own  unfailing  promises, — 'Wilt  give  meat  to  them 
that  fear  Thee,  and  be  ever  mindful  of  Thy  covenant.  In  the 
meantime,  let  me  not  be  querulous,  or  impatient,  or  envious  at  the 
prosperity  of  the  wicked  ;  or  judge  uncharitably  of  those  to  whom 
Thou  hast  given  a  larger  portion  of  the  good  things  of  this  life ; 
or  be  cruel  to  those  who  are  in  the  same  circumstances  as  myself. 
Let  me  never  sink  or  despond  under  my  heavy  pressures  and  con- 
tinued misfortunes.  Though  I  fall,  let  me  rise  again.  Let  my 
heart  never  be  sunk  so  low  that  I  should  be  afraid  to  own  the 
cause  of  despised  virtue.  Give  me  diligence,  and  prudence,  and 
industry,  and  let  me  neglect  nothing  that  lies  in  me  to  provide 
honestly  for  my  own  house,  lest  I  be  worse  than  an  infidel.  Help 
me  carefully  to  examine  my  life  past  5  and,  if  by  my  own  careless- 


AGE  43.]  TTE  IMPEISONED  FATHER.  307 

ness  or  imprudence,  I  have  reduced  myself  into  this  low  condition, 
let  me  be  more  deeply  afflicted  for  it ;  but  yet  let  me  still  hope  in 
Thy  goodness,  avoiding  those  failures  whereof  I  have  been  for- 
merly guilty.  Or,  if  for  my  sins  Thou  hast  brouglit  this  upon  me, 
help  me  now,  with  submission  and  patience,  to  bear  the  punish- 
ment of  my  iniquity.  Or,  if  by  Thy  wise  providence  Thou  art 
pleased  thus  to  afflict  me  for  trial,  and  for  the  example  of  others^ 
Thy  will,  0  my  God  !  not  mine,  be  done.  Help  me,  and  any 
who  are  in  the  same  circumstances,  in  patience  to  possess  our 
souls,  and  let  all  Thy  fatherly  chastisements  advance  us  still  nearer 
towards  Christian  perfection.  Teach  us  the  emptiness  of  all  things 
here  below — wean  us  more  and  more  from  a  vain  world.  Fix  our 
hearts  more  upon  heaven,  and  help  us  forward  in  the  way  that 
leads  to  everlasting  life  ;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  to  whom 
with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  glory,  honour,  and  power, 
now  and  for  ever.     Amen  !  "  * 

Such  a  prayer  as  tlie  above  helps  to  supply  the  lack  of  a  reli- 
gious diary  ;  and  so  will  the  following  extracts  from  letters  written 
immediately  after  Mr  Wesley  was  released  from  Lincoln  Castle. 
It  ought  to  be  premised  that  all  the  letters  were  addressed  to  his 
son  Samuel,  who  was  now  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  for  two  years 
past  had  been  a  pupil  in  Westminster  School : — 

"  Epworth,  January  14,  1706. 

"  Dear  Child, — I  now  call  you  so^  more  on  account  of  your 
relation  than  your  age ;  for  you  are  past  childhood,  and  I  shall 
hereafter  use  you  with  more  freedom,  and  communicate  my 
thoughts  to  you  as  a  friend  as  well  as  a  father.  Most  of  what  I 
write  to  you  will  be  the  result  of  my  own  dear-bought  experience  ; 
and  you  may  expect  a  letter  once  a  month  at  least ;  and  I  hope, 
in  mere  civility,  you  will  sometimes  write  again,  unless  my  son, 
too,  has  made  a  vow  never  to  write  to  me  more,  as  I  am  some- 
times inclined  to  think  my  mother  has.  If  you  think  these  letters 
worth  preserving,  you  may  lay  them  together,  and  sometimes  look 
over  them. 

"  I  shall  begin,  as  I  ought,  with  piety,  strictly  so  called,  or  your 
duty  towards  God,  which  is  the  foundation  of  all  happiness.  I 
hope  you  are  tolerably  grounded,  for  one  of  your  age,  in  the  prin- 
*  Pious  Communicant,  p.  189-193. 


308  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [iTOfi. 

ciples  of  natural  religion,  and  the  firm  belief  of  the  being  of  a 
God,  as  well  as  of  His  providence,  justice,  and  goodness,  (if  not, 
look  upon  me>  and  doubt  it  if  you  can !)  towards  which  you  have 
had  considerable  advantages  in  your  reading  so  much  of  Tillotson, 
while  you  were  here,  as  well  as  in  your  mother's  most  valuable 
letter  to  you  on  that  subject,  v/hich  I  hope  you  will  not  let  mould 
by  you ;  I  am  sure  you  ought  not  to  do  it,  for  not  many  mothers 
could  write  such  a  letter. 

"  Now  if  there  be  a  God,  as  it  follows  that  He  is  just,  good,  and 
powerful,  so  I  leave  it  to  your  own  thoughts  whether  it  be  not 
our  clearest  interest,  as  well  as  honour  and  happiness,  to  serve 
Him,  and  the  greatest  folly  in  the  world  not  to  do  it.  This  service 
must  begin  at  the  heart  by  fearing  and  loving  Him.  The  way  to 
attain  this  happy  temper  is  often  to  contemplate,  deeply  and 
seriously.  His  attributes  and  perfections,  especially  His  omni- 
science, omnipresence,  and  justice  for  the  former;  and  His  bene- 
ficence and  love  to  mankind  to  excite  the  latter,  particularly  that 
amazing  instance  of  it — His  sending  His  Son  to  die  for  us  ;  which 
that  pious  youth,  Charles  Goodall,  (who  went  to  heaven  not  much 
older  than  you  are,)  could  never  reflect  upon  without  rapture,  as 
I  find  by  his  papers  now  in  my  hands,  and  which,  perhaps,  you 
and  the  public  may  sometime  have  a  sight  of. 

"  Another  way  to  preserve  and  increase  piety  is  to  exercise  it 
in  constant  and  fervent  devotion.  There  never  was  a  very  good 
man  without  constant  secret  prayer  ;  as  I  know  not  how  any  can 
be  wicked  while  he  conscientiously  discharges  that  duty.  If  we 
make  our  less  necessary  employments  take  the  place  of  our  stated 
devotions — or,  what  is  next  to  it,  crowd  them  up  into  a  narrow 
room — we  shall  soon  find  our  piety  sensibly  abate,  and  all  that  is 
good  ready  to  run  to  ruin. 

"With  these  are  to  be  enjoined  the  daily  reading  of  God's 
Word,  on  no  occasion  to  be  omitted,  and  that  with  care  and 
observation,  especially  such  passages  as  more  immediately  con- 
cern your  own  case  and  the  state  of  your  soul. 

"  Next  to  this,  I  can  scarce  recommend  anything  that  would 
more  conduce  to  the  advancement  of  true  piety  than  your  Chris- 
tian diary.  I  will  not  reproach  you  that  a  mother's  commands 
were  more  prevalent  than  those  of  a  father,  for  your  resuming  and 
continuing  it,  since  I  am  too  well  pleased  that  you  have  at  last 
done  it.     This,  with  the  exercise  which  you  will  have,  will  find 


AGE  44.]  THE  IMPRISONED  FATHER.  SOD 

you  employment ;  and,  therefore,  you  must  be  a  good  husband  of 
your  time,  and  fix  certain  hours  for  everything,  not  neglecting 
bodily  exercise  for  the  preservation  of  your  health. 

"I  have  not  time  to  close  this  head,  but  yet  would  not  any 
longer  delay  to  write.  I  commend  you  to  God's  gracious  protec- 
tion, and  would  have  you  always  remember  that  He  sees  and 
loves  you.  Your  mother  will  write  soon  to  you.  We  are  all  welK 
— I  am  your  affectionate  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."* 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  seven  month.^, 
after  the  date  of  the  former  one  : — 

"  Epworth,  August  15,  1706. 

"  Dear  Child, — My  last  related  to  that  part  of  piety  which  is 
to  be  exercised  between  God  and  your  own  soul.  This  will  refer 
to  public  devotion,  which  is  our  due  homage  to  Almighty  God, 
and  never  ought  to  be  neglected,  unless  in  case  of  unavoidable, 
necessities,  as  sickness  and  the  like,  and  therefore  not  for  taking 
physic,  unless  the  case  be  very  pressing ;  for  you  cannot  expect  to 
gain  anything  in  your  studies  by  robbing  God  of  that  small  moiety 
of  time,  I  understand  you  are  now  under  the  happy  necessity  of 
being  always  present  at  public  worship,,  of  which  I  am  very  glad  ; 
but  then,  you  know,  it  is  by  no  means  sufficient  to  sit  as  God's 
people  sit,  if  our  hearts  be  far  from  Him.  There  ought  to  be  a 
due  preparation  of  mind  before  you  presume  to  approach  the 
house  of  God.  When  you  are  entering,  remember  whither  you 
are  going  ;  when  present,  remember  where  you  are,  and  say,  *  How 
dreadful  is  this  place!'  Always  consider  the  sacredness  of  it,  on 
account  of  its  dedication  and  relation  to  God,  and  His  presence  iii 
it,  as  well  as  its  sacred  uses ;  for  I  suppose  you  are  hardly  of  the 
same  mind  with  the  rebellious  assembly  of  divines,  and  I  hope  never 
will  be,  who,  as  impudently  as  falsely,  affirm,  that  '  no  place  is  holy 
on  account  of  any  separation  or  dedication  whatever.' 

"  You  will  find  the  firm  belief  of  God's  presence  in  His  own 
holy  house  of  prayer  will  be  of  great  advantage  to  you  in  fixing 
your  thoughts  on  the  great  work  for  which  you  come  thither; 
which,  as  soon  as  you  enter,  and  when  you  take  your  seat,  you 
are  to  express  in  most  humble  adorations  of  body  and  mind, 
*  Methodist  H^aooizinc,  1846,  p.  50. 


310  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l706. 

accompanied  with  some  short  prayer,  either  mental  or  vocal,  suit- 
able to  the  occasion. 

"  When  the  service  begins,  you  are  to  join  with  it,  and  go  along 
with  every  part  of  it,  with  the  utmost  intension  and  most  fervent 
devotion ;  for  which  end  keep  your  eye  fixed  upon  your  Prayer- 
book  or  Bible,  and  let  your  eye  go  along  with  the  priest,  which 
will  keep  your  thoughts  from  wandering. 

"  I  hope  you  understand  the  cathedral  service — I  mean,  under- 
stand what  they  sing  and  say — which  at  first  is  something  difiicult. 
Unless  you  understand  what  is  said,  you  might  as  well  pray  in  an 
unknown  tongue.  On  the  contrary,  if  we  do  understand  the 
service  and  go  along  with  it,  we  shall  find  Church  music  a  great 
help  to  our  devotion,  as  it  notably  raises  our  affections  towards 
heaven  ;  which,  I  believe,  has  been  the  experience  of  all  good  men, 
unless  they  have  been  dunces  or  fanatics ;  nay,  even  the  latter 
confess  the  same  of  their  own  sorry  Sternhold-psalms,  which  are 
infinitely  inferior  to  our  cathedral  music,  as  well  as  some  thou- 
sands of  years  of  later  date,  not  being  of  two  hundred  years  stand- 
ins:.  We  are  not  to  think  God  has  framed  man  in  vain  an  har- 
monious  creature  ;  and  surely  music  cannot  be  better  employed 
than  in  the  service  and  praises  of  Him  who  made  both  the  tongue 
and  the  ear.  I  hope  you  are  not  so  weak  as  to  be  moved  by  the 
wicked  examples  of  idle  lads  who  regard  none  of  these  things,  or 
by  their  scofi's  for  your  doing  it. 

"You  are  to  be  very  attentive  to  the  sermon,  because  you  know 
in  whose  name  and  by  whose  commission  it  is  delivered ;  and  that 
faith,  and  obedience  too,  come  by  hearing ;  this  being  God's  ordi- 
nance for  the  conversion  of  mankind  and  the  Church's  edification. 
By  practice  you  will  be  able  to  remember  the  principal  parts  of  a 
sermon ;  which,  with  a  little  pains,  will  add  an  habitual  memory 
to  that  good  natural  one  ^'herewith  God  hath  blessed  you.  When 
you  come  home,  immediately  retire,  either  into  your  closet,  or  else 
to  some  solitary  walk  in  the  park.  There  recollect  what  you  have 
heard,  and  fix  what  is  observable  in  your  memory,  especially  what 
relates  more  immediately  to  yourself  and  to  the  state  of  your  own 
soul.  This  will  be  of  great  advantage  to  you,  on  more  accounts 
than  one,  for  it  will  lay  a  good  foundation  of  divinity,  which  study 
you  must  always  have  in  your  eye,  as  being  both  designed  for  it, 
3,nd,  I  hope,  inclined  to  it  above  any  other. 

"  Have  a  particular  respect  to  the  religion  of  the  Sabbath,  as  all 


AGE  44.]  THE  IMPEISONED  FATHEK.  811 

good  men  have  ever  had.  Value  highly  that  time,  for  as  time,  in 
general,  is  the  most  precious  thing  in  the  world,  so  this  is  the 
most  precious  of  all  others,  and  not  designed  for  idle  visits,  but  for 
the  concern  of  our  souls,  and  communion  with  God  in  prayer  and 
praise,  and  other  acts  of  piety  and  devotion. 

"  I  hope  you  dare  not  make  any  exercises  upon  it  but  what  are 
proper  for  the  day,  such  as  Judge  Hale  did;  but  then,  have  a  care 
lest,  doing  this  as  a  school  task  only,  it  may  not  degenerate  into 
formality.  Rob  not  yourself  of  so  much  pleasure  and  profit  as 
you  will  find  in  your  translations  of  the  Bible  into  verse,  and  Sun- 
day exercises  of  the  same  nature,  if  you  are  but  so  happy  as  to 
reconcile  fancy  and  devotion,  which  have  too  long  been  enemies. 

"I  shall  not  write  anything  to  you  concerning  receiving  the  blessed 
sacrament  till  towards  spring;  though  I  hope  you  frequently  think 
of  it  and  long  for  it,  as  the  dearest  pledge  of  your  Saviour's  love, 
especially  when  you  go  home  from  church  and  see  others  stay  to 
receive  it. 

"  And  thus  much,  at  present,  of  public  worship. — 1  am,  your 
affectionate  friend  and  father, 

"Samuel  Wesley."* 

Before  proceeding  to  give  further  extracts  from  Mr  Wesley's  let- 
ters, there  are  two  facts  in  the  foregoing  which  demand  attention. 

The  first  is,  that  the  rector  was  a  passionate  admirer  of  sacred 
music.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt.  In  one  of  his  articles,  in 
the  Athenian  Oracle,  (vol.  i.  p.  893,)  he  strongly  advocates  the 
duty  of  singing  psalms  in  private  families,  and  attributes  the 
neglect  of  this  to  the  general  decay  of  piety,  though  he  admits 
that  the  faultiness  of  the  metrical  versions  of  the  psalms,  and  the 
ill  choice  of  tunes,  may  have  had  some  influence  in  leading  to  such 
neglect.  In  another  article,  in  the  same  volume,  (p.  440,)  he  says 
— "Nothing  but  a  stock  is  proof  against  the  charms  of  music, 
and  especially  when  good  sense,  good  poetry,  good  tunes,  and  a 
good  voice  meet  together."  In  another  article  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, in  vol.  iii.  p.  95,  he  strongly  complains  of  Sternhold's  version, 
and  adds,  in  reference  to  the  tunes,  that  most  of  them  are  so  vile 
that  even  Orpheus  himself  could  not  make  good  music  out  of  them. 
"  This,  and  the  reading  them  at  such  a  lame  rate,  tearing  them 
limb  from  limb,  and  leaving  sense,  cadency,  and  all  at  the  mercy 
*  Methodist  Magazine,  1816,  p.  53. 


312  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l706. 

of  the  clerk's  nose,  may  be  part  of  the  reason  why  the  Reformed 
Churches  are  yet  most  remiss  in  psahnody." 

Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  the  marvellous  musical  genius  of  his 
two  grandsons,  Charles  and  Samuel  Wesley,  was  inherited  from 
himself  ?  So  remarkable  was  this  talent  for  music  that  Charles 
surprised  his  father,  by  playing,  with  correctness,  a  tune  on  the 
harpsichord  before  he  was  three  years  old  ;  while  Samuel  taught 
himself  to  read  from  Handel's  oratorios ;  had  all  the  airs,  recitations, 
and  choruses  of  "  Samson  "  and  the  "  Messiah,"  both  words  and 
notes,  by  heart  before  he  was  six  years  old ;  and,  when  he  was 
eight,  composed  and  wrote  his  own  oratorio  of  "  Euth." 

The  other  fact,  in  the  preceding  letter,  which  deserves  to  be 
noticed  is,  that  Samuel  Wesley  recommends  his  son,  as  a  Sabbath 
exercise,  to  make  "translations  of  the  Bible  into  verse."  He  was 
as  fond  of  sacred  song  as  he  was  of  sacred  music.  Besides  his 
poetical  "  Life  of  Christ,"  he  had  already  done  what  he  recom- 
mends to  his  son  Samuel,  for,  in  three  volumes,  he  had  turned  the 
whole  of  the  histories  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  into  verse ; 
and,  though  his  eldest  son  did  not  adopt  his  suggestion,  it  was 
substantially  adopted  by  his  youngest  son  Charles,  who,  fifty-six  years 
afterwards,  published  in  two  volumes  his  "Short  Hymns  on  Select 
Passages  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;"  the  hymns  being  two  thousand 
and  thirty  in  number,  all  founded  upon  particular  texts,  beginning 
with  Genesis  and  ending  with  the  Revelation  of  St  John. 

At  the  risk  of  being  tedious,  we  cannot  deny  ourselves  the  gra- 
tification of  inserting  the  substance  of  two  other  letters,  written 
by  Mr  Wesley  to  his  son  Samuel,  at  Westminster  School,  in  the 
same  year  as  the  above  were  written,  170G  : — 

"  Epwobth,  September  1706. 

"  Deae  Child, — The  second  part  of  piety  regards  your  duty 
towards  your  parents,  towards  whom  I  hope  you  will  behave  your- 
self as  you  ought  to  the  last  moment  of  their  lives. 

"  Some  people,  who  are  either  fond  of  paradoxes,  or  have  im- 
bibed ill  principles  from  our  modern  plays  and  such  like  authors, 
may,  for  aught  I  know,  be  in  earnest  when  they  defend  that  most 
erroneous  and  unnatural  principle  that  '  we  owe  nothing  to  our 
parents  on  account  that  they  are  the  immediate  authors  of  our 
being.'  But  these  seem  to  forget  that  God  himself,  the  common 
Father  of  the  universe,  urges  this  as  an  argument  against  the  in- 


AGE  44.]  THE  IMPEISONED  FATHER.  313 

gratitude  of  his  people,  '  Is  lie  not  thy  Father?'  &c.  And  again, 
in  Malachi,  'If  I  be  a  father,  where  is  my  honour?'  Perhaps  you 
will  think  I  am  pleading  my  own  cause,  and  so  indeed  I  am,  in 
some  measure  ;  but  it  is  the  cause  of  my  mother  also,  and  even 
your  own  cause,  if  ever  you  should  have  children,  and,  indeed,  that 
of  nature  and  civil  society,  which  would  be  dissolved  or  exceed- 
ingly weakened  if  this  great  foundation-stone  should  be  removed. 

"  You  know  what  you  owe  to  one  of  the  best  of  mothers.  Per- 
haps you  may  have  read  of  one  of  the  Ptolemies,  who  chose  the 
name  of  Philometer,  as  a  more  glorious  title  than  if  he  had  assumed 
that  of  his  predecessor,  Alexander.  And  it  would  be  an  honest 
and  virtuous  ambition  in  j'ou  to  attempt  to  imitate  him,  for  which 
you  have  so  much  reason.  Often  reflect  on  the  tender  and  peculiar 
love  which  your  dear  mother  has  always  expressed  towards  you ; 
the  deep  affliction  of  both  body  and  mind  which  she  underwent 
for  you,  both  before  and  after  your  birth  ;  the  particular  care  she 
took  of  your  education  when  she  struggled  with  so  many  pains  and 
infirmities  ;  and,  above  all,  the  wholesome  and  sweet  motherly  ad- 
vice and  counsel  which  she  has  often  given  you  to  fear  God,  to  take 
care  of  your  soul  as  well  as  of  your  learning,  and  to  shun  all  vicious 
and  bad  examples.  You  will,  I  verily  believe,  remember  that  these 
obligations  of  gratitude,  love,  and  obedience,  and  the  expressions 
of  them  are  not  confined  to  your  tender  years,  but  must  last  to  the 
very  close  of  life,  and,  even  after  that,  render  her  memory  most  dear 
and  precious  to  you. 

"  You  will  not  forget  to  evidence  this  by  supporting  and  com- 
forting her  in  her  age,  if  it  please  God  that  she  should  ever  attain 
to  it,  (though  I  doubt  she  will  not,)  and  doing  nothing  which  may 
justly  displease  or  grieve  her,  or  show  you  unworthy  of  such  a 
mother.  You  will  endeavour  to  repay  her  prayers  for  you  by 
doubling  yours  for  her ;  and,  above  all  things,  to  live  such  a  virtu- 
ous and  religious  life  that  she  may  find  that  her  care  and  love  have 
not  been  lost  upon  you,  but  that  we  may  all  meet  in  heaven. 

"  In  short,  reverence  and  love  her  as  much  as  you  will,  which  I 
hope  will  be  as  much  as  you  can.  For  though  I  should  be  jealous 
of  any  other  rival  in  your  heart,  yet  I  will  not  be  jealous  of  her  ; 
the  more  duty  you  pay  her,  and  the  more  frequently  and  kindly 
you  write  to  her,  the  more  you  will  please  your  affectionate  father, 

"Samuel  Wesley."* 

*  Methodist  Magazine,  1846,  p.  251. 


314  THE  LIFE  AND  TIME3  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l706. 

This  beautiful  advice  was  not  lost.  Samuel  Badcock,  (no  great 
friend  of  the  Wesley  family,)  in  the  third  volume  of  the  "  Biblio- 
theca  Topographica  Britannica,"  published  in  1790,  writes : — "  I 
have  in  my  possession  a  letter  of  this  poor  and  aged  parent,  ad- 
dressed to  his  son  Samuel,  in  which  he  gratefully  acknowledges  his 
filial  duty  in  terms  so  affecting  that  I  am  at  a  loss  which  to  admire 
most — the  gratitude  of  the  parent,  or  the  affection  and  generosity 
of  the  child.  It  was  written  when  the  good  old  man  was  nearly 
fourscore,  and  so  weakened  by  a  palsy  as  to  be  incapable  of 
directing  a  pen,  unless  with  his  left  hand.  I  preserve  it  as  a 
curious  memorial  of  what  will  make  Wesley  applauded  when  his 
wit  is  forgotten." 

The  next  letter  is  as  characteristic  and  as  full  of  interest  as  any 
of  the  preceding  : — 

"Epworth,  November  8,  1706. 

"  Dear  Child, — After  piety  to  God  and  to  your  parents,  your 
morals  will  fall  next  under  consideration  ;  or,  your  duty  towards 
yourself  and  your  neighbour. 

"  I  hope  I  need  not  say  much  of  justice  toward  your  neighbour. 
Its  general  rules  are  short  and  easy.  '  Doing  as  you  would  be 
done  by,  and  loving  your  neighbour  as  yourself;'  principles  which 
have  been  admired  by  wise  and  virtuous  heathens  when  they  have 
heard  them  from  the  gospel ;  and  which  are,  indeed,  inscribed  on 
the  hearts  of  all  mankind  as  a  part  of  the  law-natural,  though 
much  obliterated  by  the  lapse  of  our  nature  and  vicious  habits. 

"  As  for  the  regiment  of  your  passions,  all  the  rest  depend,  in  a 
great  measure,  on  these  two — love  and  hatred,  or  rather  anger. 

"As  for  love,  I  shall  only  say  at  present  that  whoever  expects  to 
become  anything  in  the  world  must  guard  against  anti-Platonic 
love  in  his  youth,  shut  his  eyes  and  heart  against  it,  burn  romances, 
have  a  care  of  plays,  and  keep  himself  fully  employed  in  some  hon- 
est exercise ;  and  then,  I  think,  he  will  be  in  no  very  great  danger 
from  it. 

"  But  love  takes  in  all  desirable  objects,  or  such  as  we  fancy  de- 
sirable ;  and  here  the  rule  is,  first,  that  it  be  fixed  upon  a  lawful 
object;  and  then,  that  it  exceed  not  the  due  measure  ;  since,  if  we 
oftend  against  the  former  part  of  this  rule,  it  unavoidably  renders 
us  criminal ;  if  against  the  latter,  at  least  ridiculous,  imprudent, 
and  unhappy.     Indeed,  there  is  but  one  object  of  our  love  where 


AGE  44.]  THE  IMPEISONED  FATHER,  315 

we  cannot  transgress  in  loving  too  much  ;  and  that  is  God.  Even 
mediocrity  is  here  a  fault,  which  is  both  our  wisdom  and  our  vir- 
tue in  all  other  cases. 

"As  for  hatred,  I  can  scarce  tell  how  it  is  possible  to  have  it  in 
extremes  against  any  one.  For  my  own  part,  I  have  much  ado  to 
hate  the  devil  himself.  I  am  sure  I  have  often  pitied  him  ;  and  I 
interpret  those  scriptures  which  speak  of  hating  the  wicked,  &c., 
as  relating  chiefly  to  their  vices,  for  which  we  ought  always  to 
have  a  just  abhorrence. 

"Anger,  and  some  sort  of  aversion,  I  own  to  be  more  difficult 
to  subdue,  though  even  these  have  too  often  pride  or  interest  at 
the  bottom.  There  never  was  a  truly  great  man  who  could  not 
bridle  his  passions.  This,  my  boy,  is  what  I  wish  you  would  do, 
what  I  am  sure  you  may  do,  and  what  would  render  you  wiser  and 
greater  than  most  part  of  mankind.  This  mastery  of  yourself  will 
cost  you  some  pains  before  you  can  attain  it ;  but  it  is  richly  worth 
all  your  labour,  since  this  wise  and  Christian  temper  will  be  so  far 
from  inviting  injuries,  that  you  will  have  much  fewer  offered  you 
in  the  course  of  your  life ;  and  if  any  should  be  so  devilish  as  to 
do  it,  for  that  very  reason,  you  will  find  they  will  glide  very  gently 
off,  and  leave  little  or  no  impression  behind  them. 

"  And  thus  much  of  the  government  of  your  passions. — Your 
affectionate  father, 

^'  Samuel  Wesley."* 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  godly  letters  that  were  written  by  the 
Epworth  rector  immediately  after  his  release  from  Lincoln  Castle. 
We  are  loathe  to  leave  so  much  Christian  serenity,  fatherly  affec- 
tion, and  manly  sentiment,  for  the  region  of  strife  and  contest ; 
and  yet,  to  do  justice  to  the  subject  of  these  memoirs,  we  must. 

It  has  been  already  shown  how  Samuel  Wesley  was,  unintention- 
ally on  his  part,  involved  in  the  Dissenting  controversy.  Tt  was 
most  unwarrantable  conduct  in  Mr  Clavel  to  publish  a  letter  which 
the  writer  intended  to  be  kept  private  ;  but,  being  published,  and 
being  so  savagely  attacked  by  Mr  Palnier,  there  was  nothing  for  it 
but  for  Samuel  Wesley  to  defend  himself.  This  he  did  in  his 
pamphlet,  published  in  1704.  In  1705,  Palmer  published  his 
"  Vindication,"  in  which  Wesley  was  again  offensively  assailed. 
Immediately  after  this,  he  was  subjected  to  all  the  disgraceful  per- 

*  Methodist  Magazine,  1846,  p,  253. 


SI  6  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l707. 

seditions  that  have  been  narrated,  and,  as  a  climax  to  the  whole, 
was  thrust,  by  a  revengeful  spirit,  into  Lincoln  Gaol.  He  had  al- 
ready begun  his  "  Reply  to  Mr  Palmer's  Vindication,"  and,  during 
his  involuntary  leisure  within  his  prison-house,  he  finished  it.  It 
consists  of  1 55  pages  quarto,  and  was  published  "  for  Eobert  Clavel, 
at  the  Peacock,  in  St  Paul's  Churchyard,  in  1707."  It  has  on 
the  title-page,  for  a  motto,  the  following  sentence  from  the  writ- 
ings of  Defoe  : — "  How  long  must  we  see  the  reproaches  of  our 
Establishment  and  the  insults  of  the  laws,  and  be  bound  to  silence, 
and  to  say  nothing  for  peace'  sake  ?  How  long  must  their  false 
prophets  and  dreamers  of  dreams  abuse  us,  and  we  be  obliged  to 
hold  our  peace  ?" 

The  book  consists  of  nine  chapters  and  an  introduction. 

In  the  introduction,  Wesley  states  that  Palmer  has  charged  him 
with  publishing  "  scandalous,  wicked,  malicious,  envious,  spiteful, 
injurious,  base,  bold,  daring,  rampant,  downright,  positive,  com- 
plicated, abominable  falsehoods."  He  says  Palmer  regales  him  by 
applying  to  him  the  epithets  following  : — "  Cruel,  unjust,  wicked, 
silly,  wi'etched,  flagrant,  spiteful,  impertinent,  insidious,  scanda- 
lous, impudent,  barefaced,  perfidious,  ingrate,  sycophant,  delator 
and  informer." 

Wesley's  "Reply"  was  written  at  the  request  of  his  bishop, 
who  offered  to  assist  him  with  materials  for  the  work,  and  revised 
part  of  it  before  it  was  printed.*  It  is  elaborate  and  able ;  but  a 
lengthened  review  of  it,  at  this  period,  would  be  useless.  We 
content  ourselves,  therefore,  with  giving  a  few  matters  of  fact  in 
the  order  in  which  the  book  contains  them. 

Wesley  declares  that  the  Dissenters  were  now  "  choosing  lads  of 
the  most  pregnant  parts,  and  were  educating  them  at  the  public 
schools  of  the  Church,  as  St  Paul's  and  others,  with  the  intention 
to  transplant  them  thence  to  Dissenting  academies,  and  from 
thence  into  a  martial  phalanx  to  attack  the  Church  with  greater 
success  than  their  predecessors  (p.  7.) 

In  the  15th  page,  Wesley  strangely  enough  "thanks  God  that 
the  Act  of  Uniformity  is  not  repealed,  and  that  all  the  strength 
of  the  Dissenters  cannot  prevail  to  repeal  it ! "  Remembering 
what  his  father  and  his  grandfather  were  made  to  suffer  by  that 
Act,  one  cannot  help  but  think  that  there  is  hardly  good  taste  in 
this. 

*  Wesley's  Reply,  p^  154. 


AGE  45.]  THE  IMPEISONED  FATHER.  817 

Wesley  says  he  can  give  the  name  of  a  famed  Dissenting  min- 
ister who  was  active  in  taking  away  all  our  legal  securities,  and 
caballed  with  those  who  were  favourites  at  Court.  He  and  his 
proselytes  met  at  a  house  not  far  from  the  Poultry  Church,  whither 
many  of  the  Dissenting  ministers  usually  resorted.  When  Wesley 
had  just  returned  to  London  from  the  university,  those  caballers 
used  all  the  arguments  they  could  think  of  to  persuade  him  to 
join  them  ;  but  he  writes  : — "I  thank  God  I  abhorred  their  pro- 
posals, and  never  saw  them  more,  unless  I  accidentally  met  them," 
(pp.  62  and  63.) 

Palmer,  in  his  "  Vindication,"  had  alleged  that  Benjamin 
Bridgewater,  the  Calves-head  poet,  learned  to  sing  "  To  Puss,  Boys  " 
in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  thereby  intending  to  cast  a  slur 
ppon  the  reputation  of  the  Church.  Wesley  replies  : — "  I  am 
sorry  they  won't  suffer  poor  Ben  (my  successor  in  the  favours  of 
the  party)  to  be  quiet  in  his  grave,"  He  then  proceeds  to  show 
that  poor  Ben,  for  bad  behaviour,  was  forced  to  leave  Cambridge 
University  some  years  before  the  song  "  To  Puss,  Boys  "  was  pub- 
lished, and  that  when  he  came  to  London  he  took  sanctuary  among 
Dissenters,  and  wrote  the  anthems  of  the  Calves-head  Club,  by 
which  he  became  the  darling  of  the  party,  and  was  entertained 
and  caressed  at  their  houses,"  (p.  65.) 

Wesley  declares  that  up  to  the  time  that  his  "  letter  "  was  pub- 
lished by  Clavel,  and  he  published  his  "  Defence,"  his  best  friends 
were  all  Dissenters,  but  that  now  he  had  lost  their  favour,  because 
he  could  not  comply  with  their  proposals  to  retract  the  truths  that 
he  had  written  concerning  Dissenting  matters.  He  writes : — 
"  You  cannot  say  but  that  my  behaviour  towards  you  has  been  in- 
offensive during  the  many  years  which  have  elapsed  since  I  left 
you.  I  have  received  common  civilities  from  some  of  your  per- 
suasion, and  have,  in  my  turn,  obliged  them  as  occasion  offered. 
I  never  desired  your  destruction,  but  your  reformation.  I  showed 
no  great  fondness  to  engage  against  you.  It  was  a  mere  accident 
that  occasioned  it,  and  I  sent  you  fair  warning  long  before  I  began 
to  write  my  defence.  I  am  of  no  party  that  I  know  of,  unless  you 
reckon  those  to  be  such  who  desire  you  should  neither  distress 
nor  overtop  the  Establishment,"  (p.  73.) 

Wesley  says  Palmer  accuses  him  of  bowing  and  cringing  to  the 
Dissenters  since  he  had  joined  the  Church.  He  replies  : — "I  own 
this  to  be  true,  for  I  have  often  asked  my  father-in-law's,  and  my 


318  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l707. 

mother's  blessing,  and  I  did  once  bow  down  in  the  house  of  Eim- 
mon  ;  but  for  tlie  rest  nobody  ever  accused  me  that  my  knees  were 
suppled,"  (p.  99.) 

Wesley  relates  a  story  to  the  effect  that  on  January  81st,  1698, 
which  happened  to  be  Sunday,  a  clergyman  near  London  was 
preaching  a  sermon,  from  1  Peter,  ii.  13,  in  reference  to  the 
martyrdom  of  King  Charles,  and  that  nine  pupils  from  a  neigh- 
bouring Dissenting  Academy  came  to  hear  him.  After  the  ser- 
vice, a  deputation  of  two  of  them  waited  upon  him  and  invited 
him  to  a  noble  entertainment  to  be  given  the  same  evening.  The 
clergyman  refused.  They  then  began  to  quarrel  with  his  sermon, 
and  said  Charles  I.  was  "  a  cursed  tyrant,  and  that  his  death  was 
the  just  execution  of  a  damned  malefactor."  The  next  day,  the 
same  clergyman  received  a  letter  signed  Timothy  Greybeard,  stat- 
ing, that,  if  he  had  gone  as  invited  to  the  supper  on  the  night 
previous,  they  would  have  given  him,  as  "  the  principal  dish,  the 
best  calf's-head  they  could  have  procured  for  love  or  money ;  and 
that,  if  he  had  been  inclined  to  drink  a  health  to  the  sanctified 
head,  there  would  have  been  good  humming  liquor  to  have 
washed  his  conscience  in  a  few  gulps,"  (p.  100.) 

Wesley  acknowledges  that,  when  he  was  a  pupil  in  the  Dissent- 
ing Academy,  three  arch  lasses  made  a  fool  of  him  by  clothing 
him  in  a  cloak,  and  sending  him  through  St  Paul's  Churchyard  to 
ask  for  Rochester's  "  Divine  Poems  ;"  but  he  indignantly  denies 
that  he  ever  kept  any  lewd  company,  though  he  says  it  was  "  one 
of  the  happiest  providences  of  his  life  that  he  did  not,  and  that  he 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  debauchery  and  ruin."  He  adds, 
"Though  I  kept  no  such  company,  I  know  too  many  Dissenters 
that  did,  and  know  where  they  have  made  assignations  with  them, 
in  your  very  meetings,  though  it  is  possible  that,  in  twenty  years, 
those  ladies  may  be  advanced  to  a  more  venerable  character  than 
they  then  possessed,"  (pp.  139  and  140.)  He  further  states  that 
the  majority  of  the  Dissenters,  with  whom  he  had  been  acquainted, 
preferred  a  commonwealth  to  a  monarchy,  abhorred  the  memory 
of  Charles  I.,  and  the  name  and  race  of  the  Stuarts ;  and  that  they 
could  not  deny  that  lewdness  and  debauchery  were  not  uncommon 
in  their  academies  as  well  as  in  other  places,  (p.  143.) 

In  closing  the  controversy,  Mr  Wesley  says,  that  when  he  was 
last  in  Loudon,  in  January  and  February  1705,  he  was  often 
ruffled  by  being  urged  to  retract,  or  at  least  palliate  his  charges 


AGE  45.]  THE  IMPRISONED  FATHER.  319 

against  the  Dissenters ;  and  that,  as  he  was  about  to  receive  tlie 
sacrament,  he  wrote  the  following  protestation,  and  sent  it  to  the 
clergyman  who  was  to  officiate  : — 

"  I  take  this  opportunity  solemnly  to  declare,  that  what  I  have 
written  in  relation  to  the  Dissenters,  in  my  letter,  and  the  defence 
of  it,  is  strictly  true,  and  that  I  have  not  wilfully  charged  them 
with  anything  that  is  otherwise." 

"He  adds,  "  After  the  delivery  of  this,  I  bless  God  I  received 
with  as  great  quiet  and  satisfaction  as  I  hope  I  should  die  with, 
if  God  should  call  me  to  witness  to  the  truth  with  my  last 
breath." 

"  If  in  the  heat  of  controversy  I  have  unadvisedly  used  any  ex- 
pressions in  this  or  in  any  other  of  my  writings,  that  either  may 
reflect  too  severely  on  a  whole  body  of  men,  among  whom  I  doubt 
not  there  are  many  who  fear  God  and  have  a  zeal  for  Him,  though 
I  think  it  is  not  according  to  knowledge,  or  which  have  not  been 
agreeable  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  the  example  of  my  great 
Master,  I  do  heartily,  very  heartily,  ask  pardon  both  of  God  and 
them,  as  I  desire  the  same  for  my  greatest  enemies  ;  and  having 
written  this,  and  again  and  again  reviewed  and  weighed  it,  I  am 
not  much  concerned  for  the  consequence  of  it  as  to  this  world, 
but  shall  conclude  as  our  Church  does  one  part  of  our  Litany, 
'  In  all  time  of  our  tribulation,  in  all  time  of  our  wealth,  in  the 
hour  of  death,  and  in  the  day  of  judgment — good  Lord,  deliver 
us.' " 

We  now  subjoin  two  letters  written  by  Mr  Wesley  in  the  year 
in  which  his  last  controversial  work  was  published.  Both  were 
addressed  to  his  son  Samuel,  now  King's  Scholar,  in  Westminster 
School : — 

"Epworth,  October  2,  1707. 

"  Dear  Sam, — Read  the  histories  of  Joseph,  of  Daniel,  and  of 
Lot ;  and,  if  you  please,  the  thirteenth  satire  of  Juvenal. 

"  Remember,  God  sees,  and  will  punish  and  reward. 

"If  you  can  get  no  other  time  to  say  your  prayers,  you  may  do 
it  ag  you  seem  to  be  reading,  for  done  it  must  be,  or  you  know 
what  follows !  But  have  not  you  time  when  you  sit  up  to 
watch  ? 


820  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l707. 

"  That  God  may  evermore  preserve  you,  is  the  prayer  of  your 
affectionate  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."  * 

"  Epworth,  Dec.  29,  1707. 

"Dear  Child, — I  was  pleased  to  see  in  your  last  that  you 
expressed  an  inclination  to  repose  a  more  than  ordinary  confi- 
dence in  me.  I  have  endeavoured  to  show  that  I  really  value  your 
affection,  and  I  should  be  very  well  satisfied  if  you  looked  upon 
me  as  your  friend,  as  well  as  your  father.  Sammy,  believe  it,  there 
are  but  few  in  the  world  that  are  fit  to  be  trusted  with  our  weak- 
nesses and  most  private  thoughts ;  and  yet  it  is  exceedingly  con- 
venient to  have  some  one  to  whom  one  might  safely  communicate 
them,  especially  in  youth,  when  first  launching  into  the  world. 
I  know  there  are  not  many  who  would  choose  a  father  for  this  ; 
but  since  you  are  inclined  to  do  it,  perhaps  it  shall  not  be  the 
worse  for  you,  and  I  will  promise  you  so  much  secrecy,  that  even 
your  mother  shall  know  nothing  but  what  you  have  a  mind  she 
should,  for  which  reason  it  may  be  convenient  you  should  write 
to  me  still  in  Latin. 

"  It  is  agreed  by  all  that  a  pure  body  and  a  chaste  mind  are 
an  acceptable  sacrifice  to  infinite  Purity  and  Holiness ;  and  that, 
without  these,  a  thousand  hecatombs  would  never  be  accepted. 
How  happy  are  those  who  preserve  their  first  purity  and  inno- 
cence j  and  how  much  easier  is  it  to  abstain  from  the  first  acts, 
than  not  to  reiterate  them  and  sink  into  inveterate  habits  !  There 
is  no  parleying  with  the  temptation  to  this  sin,  which  is  nourished 
by  sloth  and  intemperance.  You  have  not  wanted  repeated  warn- 
ings, and  I  hope  they  have  not  been  altogether  in  vain.  The 
shortness,  the  baseness,  the  nastiness  of  the  pleasure  would  be 
enough  to  make  one  nauseate  it  did  not  the  devil  and  the  flesh 
unite  in  their  temptations  to  it.  However,  conquered  it  must  be, 
for  we  must  part  with  that  or  heaven  !  Ah,  my  boy,  what  sneak- 
ing things  does  vice  make  us  !  What  traitors  to  ourselves,  and 
how  false  within  !  And  what  invincible  courage,  as  well  as  calm- 
ness, attends  virtue  and  innocence  ! 

"  Now,  my  boy,  (it  is  likely,)  begins  that  conflict  whereof  I  have 
so  often  warned  you,  and  which  will  find  you  warm  work  for  some 
years.  Now  vice  or  virtue,  God  or  Satan,  heaven  or  hell,  which 
"  Metkddist  Magazine,  1846,  p.  575. 


AGE  45.]  THE  IMPEISONED  FATHEK.  321 

will  you  choose  ?  What,  if  you  should  fall  on  your  knees  this 
moment,  or  as  soon  as  you  can  retire,  and  choose  the  better  part  ? 
If  you  have  begun  to  do  amiss,  resolve  to  do  better.  Give  up 
yourself  solemnly  to  God  and  to  His  service.  Implore  the  mercy 
and  gracious  aid  of  your  Kedeemer,  and  the  blessed  assistance 
(perhaps  the  return)  of  the  Holy  Comforter.  You  will  not  be  cast 
off.  You  will  not  want  strength  from  above,  which  will  be  infin- 
itely beyond  your  own,  or  even  the  power  of  the  enemy.  The 
holy  angels  are  spectators,  and  will  rejoice  at  your  conquest.  Why 
should  you  not  make  your  parents'  heart  rejoice.  You  know  how 
tenderly  they  are  concerned  for  you,  and  how  fain  they  would 
have  you  virtuous  and  happy. 

"  I  cannot  close  my  letter  without  adding  something  remarkable 
that  has  lately  happened  in  our  town  (though  it  is  not  over-fruit- 
ful in  adventures)  which  may  afford  you  some  useful  remarks. 

"  Your  worthy  schoolmaster,  John  Holland,  whose  kindness 
you  wear  on  your  knuckles,  after  having  cost  his  father,  Thomas 
Holland,  two  or  three  hundred  pounds  at  the  University,  in  hopes 
he  would  live  to  help  his  sister  and  brothers,  and  for  want  of  which 
the  poor  old  man  now  lies  in  Lincoln  Gaol,  without  any  hopes  of 
liberty  unless  death  should  set  him  free ;  after  having  been  in 
thirteen  places,  and  pawned  his  gown  and  clothes  almost  as  often, 
being  thrown  out  wherever  he  came  for  his  wickedness  and  lewd- 
ness'— was  making  homewards  about  a  month  or  six  weeks  since, 
and  got  within  ten  or  a  dozen  miles  of  Epworth,  where  he  fell  sickj 
out  of  rage  or  despair,  and  was  brought  home  to  the  parish  in  a 
cart,  and  has  lain  almost  mad  since  he  came  hither.  Peter  Forster^ 
the  Anabaptist  preacher,  gave  him  twopence  to  buy  some  brandy, 
and  thought  he  was  very  generous.  His  mother  fell  a-cursing  God 
when  she  saw  him.  She  has  been  with  me  to  beg  the  assistance 
of  the  parish  for  him.  What  think  you  of  this  example  ? — I  am, 
your  affectionate  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."* 

The  above  letter  is  a  beautiful  example  6f  the  loving  confidence 
which  ought  to  exist  between  a  father  and  his  children.  It  also 
affords  incidental  evidence,  which  refutes  the  commonly-received 
opinion^  that  the  early  education  of  the  Wesley  children  was  de- 
volved exclusively  on  the  mother.     There  can  be  no  doubt  that 

*  Methodist  Magazine;  1846,  p.  576. 

X 


B22  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  AVESLEY.  [l707. 

Susannah  Wesley  educated  her  children  up  to  a  certain  point,  but 
who  taught  the  sons  and  some  of  the  daughters  the  elements  of 
Greek  and  Latin  ?  From  the  foregoing  letter,  it  is  undeniable 
that,  though  Susannah  Wesley  was  a  thorough  master  of  the  Eng- 
lish language,  and  had  a  resj^ectable  knowledge  of  the  French,  she 
was  not  so  familiar  with  Latin  as  to  be  able  to  read  it  without 
difficulty  ;  and,  if  so,  there  can  be  little  question  that,  whatever 
knowledge  the  sons,  and  tAvo  or  three  of  the  daughters  had  of  the 
classic  tongues,  was  communicated  by  their  father ;  for,  though 
vSamuel  seems  to  have  had  a  half  brutalized  tutor  for  a  time, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  any  other  of  the  children  had  a  like 
provision.  In  the  first  place,  the  rector  could  not  afford  it ;  and, 
secondly,  there  was  no  need  of  it,  for  he  himself  was  one  of  the 
best  classical  scholars  of  his  day. 

Wesley  had  now  eight  children,  and  two  more  were  intrusted  to 
him  afterwards.  We  have  already  sketched  all  that  were  born  up 
to  the  year  1697.  In  1701  the  rector's  wife  had  twins,  both  of 
whom  died  in  infancy.  In  1702  occurred  the  birth  of  their  daughter 
Anne.  At  the  age  of  about  twenty-three  she  married  Mr  John 
Lambert,  a  land-surveyor  at  Epworth.  Lambert  was  an  educated 
man,  and  was  particularly  careful  to  collect  the  early  pamphlet 
i:)ubli cations  of  his  father-in-law,  Mr  Samuel  Wesley,  from  which 
collection,  and  from  Lambert's  manuscript  notes,  Dr  Adam  Clarke 
derived  considerable  assistance  in  his  compilation  of  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Wesley  Family.  Mr  and  Mrs  Lambert,  in  1737,  were  re- 
siding at  Hatfield,  where  they  were  visited  by  Charles  Wesley, 
Lambert  was  betrayed  into  drinking  habits  by  his  brother-in-law, 
the  wretched  Wright ;  but  Charles  Wesley  laboured  to  reclaim 
him,  and  it  is  hoped  with  good  effect. 

In  the  eventful  year  1708,  when  Mr  Wesley's  unfortunate  letter 
was  published  by  Mr  Clavel,  his  son  John  was  born  ;  but  of  him 
we  need  say  nothing. 

In  1705,  the  year  that  Mr  Wesley  was  imprisoned,  another 
child  was  born ;  and,  as  already  stated,  was  smothered  by  its 
nurse,  and  thrown  dead  into  its  mother's  arms. 

In  1707,  the  year  in  which  Wesley  wrote  the  preceding  letters 
to  his  son  Samuel,  his  daughter  Martha  was  given  him.  Martha 
was  reputed,  by  her  sisters,  to  be  the  mother's  favourite ;  and  cer- 
tainly Martha  loved  and  almost  idolised  her  mother.  From  her 
infancy  she  was  remarkable  for  deep  thoughtfulness,  for  equani- 


AGE  45.]  THE  IMPRISONED  FATHER.  823 

mity  of  temper,  and  for  serious  deportment.  Her  brothers  and 
sisters  would  use  all  kinds  of  witty  mischief  to  ruffle  her  ;  but  in 
vain.  The  likeness  between  herself  and  her  brother  John  was  so 
exact,  that  Dr  Clarke  declares,  if  he  had  seen  them  dressed  in  the 
same  attire,  he  could  not  have  distinguished  the  one  from  the 
other.  Their  disposition  also  was  the  same ;  and  even  their  hand- 
writing was  so  much  alike  that  the  one  might  be  easily  mistaken 
for  the  other.  At  the  age  of  thirteen,  she  went  to  live  with  her 
uncle  Matthew  in  London,  and  remained  with  him  for  the  space 
of  a  dozen  years.*  Here  she  became  acquainted  with  Westley 
Hall,  who  was  one  of  the  pupils  of  her  brother  John,  at  Lincoln 
College.  Hall,  at  that  time,  was  a  man  of  agreeable  person,  pileas- 
ing  manners,  and  good  property;  He  fell  in  love  with  Martha, 
and  made  her  an  offer  of  marriage.  Without  consulting  any  of 
her  family  she  accepted  him.  Within  a  week  he  went  with  her 
brothers  John  and  Charles  to  Epworth,  where  he  grew  enamoured 
of  her  younger  sister  Kezziah,  made  an  engagement  to  marry  her, 
and  was  on  the  point  of  leading  her  to  the  altar,  when  a  sudden 
qualm  of  conscience  reminded  him  of  his  previous  engagement, 
and  he  came  back  to  Martha.  They  were  married  in  1735,  (the 
year  in  which  her  father  died ;)  and  her  uncle  Matthew  gave  her 
a  dowry  of  £500^  Hall,  for  a  time,  behaved  like  a  gentleman  and 
a  Christian,  and  honourably  fulfilled  his  duties  as  a  curate  of  the 
Church  of  England  at  Salisbury.  He  then  became  a  Moravian 
and  Quietistj  an  Antinomian,  a  Deist,  if  not  an  Atheist,  and  a 
Polygamist,  which  last  he  defended  in  his  teaching,  and  illustrated 
by  his  practice.  While  a  curate  at  Salisbury,  he  seduced  one  of 
his  servants,  and  was  afterwards  guilty  of  many  similar  infidelities. 
Once  when  Charles  Wesley  was  preaching  at  Bristol,  and  had  his 
sister  Patty  for  a  hearer.  Hall  came  into  the  room  and  took  her 
off  with  him.  On  another  occasion  at  Salisbury,  he  turned  both 
her  and  her  brother  John  out  of  doors.  Samuel  Wesley,  jun., 
never  liked  him.  In  a  letter  to  John  he  says — "  I  never  liked  the 
man  from  the  first  time  I  saw  him.  His  smoothness  never  suited 
my  roughness.  He  appeared  always  to  dread  me  as  a  wit.  This, 
with  me,  is  a  sure  sign  of  guilt  and  hypocrisy.     He  was  afraid  I 

*  This  is  taken  from  Clarke's  Wesley  Family,  but  it  is  not  correct ;  for,  in  her 
twenty-fourth  year,  she  was  at  Epworth,  where  she  was  courted  by  her  father's 
curate,  John  Romley;  and,  at  Christmas,  1723,  when  the  Romley  courtship  was 
broken  ofif,  her  father  removed  her  to  a  situation  in  the  family  of  Mr  Grantham,  of 
Kelstern. — See  original  letter  in  Wesleyan  Times,  Jan.  29,  1866. 


324  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l707. 

should  see  it,  if  I  looked  keenly  into  his  eye."  *  After  being  the 
father  of  ten  children  by  his  wife,  nine  of  whom  lie  buried  at 
Salisbury,  Hall  abandoned  his  family,  went  off  to  the  West  Indies 
with  one  of  his  mistresses,  lived  with  her  there  till  she  died,  and 
afterwards  returned  to  England,  where,  professing  penitential  sor- 
row, he  was  cordially  received  by  his  injured  and  incomparable 
wife,  who  showed  him  every  Christian  attention  till  his  death, 
which  took  place  at  Bristol,  Jan.  6,  1776.  John  Wesley  buried 
liira,  and  says — "  God  had  given  him  deep  repentance." 

Such  was  poor  Patty's  worthless  and  vagabond  husband ;  and 
yet,  in  the  midst  of  all  her  trials,  she  acted  the  part  of  a  perfect 
Christian.  Out  of  sheer  pity,  she  actually  gave  money  to  one  of 
her  husband's  abandoned  concubines ;  and,  on  another  occasion, 
when  he,  with  frontless  inhumanity,  brought  home  one  of  his  ille- 
gitimate infants,  and  commanded  his  wife  to  take  charge  of  it  till 
he  could  make  otlier  provision  for  it,  she  ordered  a  cradle  to  be 
brought,  placed  the  babe  in  it,  and  continued  to  perform  for  it  all 
the  requisite  acts  of  humanitj^ 

Mrs  Hall  often  dined  with  Dr  Johnson  at  Bolt  Court ;  he 
ardently  admired  her,  and  always  treated  her  with  great  reverence 
and  respect.  In  many  cases,  her  conversation  supplied  to  Johnson 
the  place  of  books  ;  for  her  memory  was  a  repository  of  the  most 
striking  events  of  past  centuries ;  and  she  had  the  best  parts  of 
all  the  English  poets  by  heart.  Of  wit  she  used  to  say,  she  was 
the  only  one  of  the  family  without  it ;  and  her  brother  Charles 
remarked  that  "  Sister  Patty  was  always  too  wise  to  be  witty." 
One  of  her  peculiarities  was,  she  could  never  be  induced  to  be- 
hold a  corpse,  "Because,"  said  she,  "it  is  beholding  sin  sitting 
upon  his  throne."  Mrs  Hall  died  on  the  12th  of  July  1791,  her 
last  words  being,  "  I  have  the  assurance  which  I  have  long  prayed 
for.  Shout!"  She  was  the  last  survivor  of  th6  original  Wesley 
family ;  her  father,  mother,  brothers,  and  sisters  having  all  died 
before  her.  In  all  respects,  she  was  a  remarkable  woman  ;  but,  in 
Christian  charity,  was  pre-eminent.  Her  brother  Charles  was 
accustomed  to  say,  "  It  is  in  vain  to  give  Pat  anything  to  add  to 
her  comforts,  for  she  always  gives  it  away  to  some  person  poorer 
than  herself"  In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1791,  p.  684, 
there  is  the  following  obituary  notice: — "July  12,  in  the  City 
Road,  in  her  eighty-fourth  year,  Mrs  Martha  Hall,  widow  of  the  Rev. 
*   Westminster  Magazine,  1774. 


AGE4y.]  THE  IMPEISONED  FATHER.  825 

Mr  H.,  and  last  surviving  sister  of  the  Rev.  John  and  Charles 
Wesley.  She  was  equally  distinguished  by  piety,  understanding, 
and  sweetness  of  temper.  Her  sympathy  for  the  wretched,  and 
her  bounty  even  to  the  worthless,  will  eternise  her  name  in  bet- 
ter worlds  than  this."* 

In  the  year  1708,  Charles  Wesley  was  born,  and  two  years  after- 
wards Kezziah,  the  youngest  of  the  rector's  children  that  survived 
the  days  of  infancy. 

Throughout  life  Kezziah  Wesley's  health  was  delicate,  in  eonser 
quence  of  which  she  was  prevented  from  improving  a  mind  that 
seems  to  have  been  capable  of  high  cultivation.  When  she  was 
about  nineteen  years  of  age,  she  became  a  teacher  in  a  boarding-* 
school  in  Lincoln,  where  she  complains  of  the  want  of  clothes  and 
of  money,  but  wishes  to  remain  for  the  purpose  of  completing  her 
education.  She  had  an  insatiable  thirst  for  knowledge,  both 
divine  and  human  ;  but  her  bad  health  rendered  her  almost  incap^ 
able  of  close  mental  application.  We  refrain  from  again  advert- 
ing to  the  distressing  acquaintance  with  Westley  Hall;  suffice  it  to 
say,  that  after  this  she  for  a  time  was  boarded  at  the  house  of 
the  venerable  Vicar  of  Bexley,  the  Rev.  Mr  Piers.  She  afterwards 
was  domiciled  with  an  aunt  at  Islington,  and  her  brother  Samuel 
offered  her  a  home  at  Tiverton.  It  was  not  long  that  she  needed 
the  kindness  of  her  friends,  for,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one,  she 
peacefully  expired.  Her  brother  Charles  gives  the  following  ac- 
count of  her  death  : — "  Yesterday  morning,  March  9,  174?1,  sister 
Kezzy  died  in  the  Lord  Jesus.  He  finished  His  work,  and  cut  it 
short  in  mercy  ;  full  of  thankfulness,  resignation,  and  love,  with- 
out pain  or  trouble,  she  commended  her  spirit  into  the  hands  of 
Jesus,  and  fell  asleep."! 

Such  were  the  members  of  the  Wesley  family.  '■  Such  a  family," 
writes  Dr  Clarke,  "  I  have  never  read  of,  heard  of,  or  known  ;  nor 
since  the  days  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  and  Joseph  and  Mary,  has 
there  ever  been  a  family  to  which  the  human  race  has  been  more 
indebted." 

Charles  Wesley  tells  us  that  he  has  heard  his  father  say,  "  God 
had  shown  him  he  should  have  all  his  nineteen  children  about  him 
in  heaven  ;"  j  and  there  is  little  doubt  that,  for  more  than  seventy 
years  past,  this  hope  of  the  rector  has  been  realised. 

*  See  also  the  Journals  of  J.  and  C.  Wesley ;  also,  Clarke's  Wesley  Family 
t  Whitehead's  Life  of  J.  and  C.  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  75. 
+  Journal,  vol.  ii.  p.  272. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

FIKE  AND  FURY — 1709-1712. 

On  two  previous  occasions  Samuel  Wesley  had  been  a  heavy 
sufferer  by  fire.  In  1702,  two-thirds  of  his  parsonage  was  burnt ; 
and,  in  1704,  all  his  flax  shared  the  same  disastrous  fate.  Five 
years  after  this,  another,  and  even  more  serious,  fire  occurred.  On 
February  9,  1709,  at  midnight,  when  all  the  family  were  in  bed, 
Hetty,  who  was  now  twelve  years  old,  was  awoke  by  sparks  of 
fire  falling  from  the  roof  upon  her  feet.  On  account  of  severe 
illness  from  which  his  wife  was  suffering,  Samuel  Wesley  was 
sleeping  in  a  separate  room.  Hetty  ran  to  alarm  him,  and,  at  the 
same  moment,  he  was  startled  by  a  cry  of  fire  out  of  doors.  He 
hurried  to  Mrs  Wesley,  and  bid  her  and  her  eldest  daughters  rise 
as  quickly  as  possible.  He  then  burst  open  the  nursery  door, 
where  in  two  beds  were  sleeping  five  of  his  children  and  their 
nurse.  The  nurse  seized  Charles,  the  youngest,  and  bid  the  others 
follow.  Three  of  the  elder  children  did  as  they  were  bidden  ;  but 
John  was  left  sleeping.  All  the  family  excepting  him,  ^  child 
seven  years  of  age,  were  in  the  hall  surrounded  with  flames  and 
unable  to  escape,  the  key  of  the  door  being  above  stairs.  Mr 
Wesley  ran  up  and  recovered  the  key  a  minute  before  the  stair 
steps  took  fire.  The  door  was  now  opened,  but  the  wind  drove 
the  flames  inwards  with  such  violence  that  egress  seemed  im- 
possible. Some  of  the  children  now  escaped  through  the  windows, 
and  the  rest  through  a  little  door  into  the  garden.  Mrs  Wesley 
was  not  in  a  condition  either  to  climb  to  the  windows  or  get 
to  the  garden  door ;  and,  naked  as  she  was,  she  was  compelled  to 
force  her  way  to  the  main  entrance  through  the  fury  of  the  flames, 
which  she  did,  suflTering  no  further  harm  than  the  scorching  of 
her  legs,  hands,  and  face. 

When  Mr  Wesley  was  counting  heads  to  see  if  all  his  family 


AGE  47.]  FIKE  AND  FUKY.  -327 

were  safe,  he  heard  a  cry  issuing  from  tlie  iiurser}',  and  found 
that  John  was  wanting.  He  attempted  to  ascend  the  stairs,  but 
they  were  all  on  fire,  and  were  insufficient  to  bear  his  weight. 
Finding  it  impossible  to  render  help,  he  knelt  down  in  the  blazing 
hall  and  commended  the  soul  of  his  child  to  God.  Meanwhile 
the  child  had  mounted  a  chest  which  stood  near  the  window, 
and  one  in  the  yard  saw  him,  and  proposed  running  to  fetch  a 
ladder  for  his  escape.  Another  seeing  there  was  not  time  for 
that,  proposed  that  he  would  fix  himself  against  the  wall,  and 
that  a  lighter  man  should  be  set  upon  his  shoulders.  This  was 
done — the  child  was  pulled  through  the  window ;  and,  at  the 
same  instant,  the  roof  fell  with  a  fearful  crash,  but  fortunately 
fell  inwards,  and  thus  the  two  men  and  the  rescued  child  v/ere 
saved  from  perishing.  When  the  child  was  taken  to  an  adjoin- 
ing house  where  his  father  was,  the  devout  rector  cried,  "  Come, 
neighbours,  let  us  kneel  down  ;  let  us  give  thanks  to  God  ;  He 
has  given  me  all  my  eight  children  ;  let  tlie  house  go  ;  I  am  rich 
enough." 

The  next  day,  as  he  was  walking  in  his  garden,  and  mournfully 
surveying  the  ruins  of  his  house,  he  descried  part  of  a  leaf  of  his 
Polyglott  Bible,  on  which  the  only  words  legible  were  :  "  Vade, 
vende  omnia  quae  habes,  et  attolle  crucem,  et  sequere  me."  "  Go, 
sell  all  that  thou  hast ;  and  take  up  thy  cross,  and  follow  me." 

The  house,  the  furniture,  and  the  rector's  library  were  burnt ; 
but  perhaps  the  severest  loss,  at  least  to  posterity,  was  the  destruc- 
tion of  manuscripts.  This  included  Mr  Wesley's  long-continued 
literary  correspondence,  the  writings  of  his  wife,  and  many  im- 
portant papers  relative  to  the  Annesley  family,  and  particularly 
to  Dr  Annesley  himself ; — papers  which  the  doctor  had  intrusted 
to  Mrs  Wesley  as  his  best  beloved  child.  Besides  these,  all  the 
sermons  of  the  rector  were  consumed,  and  likewise  a  large  and  im- 
portant manuscript  on  Hebrew  poetry,  in  which  he  had  turned  the 
book  of  Psalms,  and  all  the  Hebrew  hymns  in  the  Pentateuch, 
and  in  the  book  of  Judges,  into  verse. 

A  few  small  mementoes  of  this  terrible  calamity  were  preserved, 
and  among  others  a  hymn,  written  by  Samuel  Wesley,  with  music 
adapted,  probably  by  Henry  Purcell  or  Dr  Blow.  This  hymn  is 
the  only  one,  by  the  rector  of  Epworth,  that  finds  a  place  in  the 
Methodist  Hymn-Book,  and  there  even  it  is  curtailed.  We 
present  it  to  the  reader  complete. 


328  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l709. 

"  Behold  the  Saviour  of  mankir^d 
Nail'd  to  the  shameful  tree  ! 
How  vast  the  love  that  Him  inclined 
To  bleed  and  die  for  thee  ! 

"  Though  far  unequal  our  low  praise 

To  Thy  vast  sufferings  prove, 

O  Lamb  of  God,  thus  all  our  days 

Thus  will  we  grieve  and  love, 

"  Hark,  how  He  groans !  while  nature  shakes, 
And  earth's  strong  pillars  bend ; 
The  temple's  veil  in  sunder  breaks ; 
The  solid  marbles  rend. 

"  'Tis  done  !  the  precious  ransom's  paid; 
"  Receive  My  soul,"  He  cries : 
See  where  He  bows  His  sacred  head  ! 
He  bows  His  head  and  dies  ! 

"  But  soon  he'll  break  death's  envious  chain, 
And  in  full  glory  shine  : 
O  Lamb  of  God  !  was  ever  pain, 
Was  ever  love  like  Thine  ! 

"  Thy  loss  our  ruins  did  repair, 
Death,  by  Thy  death,  is  slain  ; 
T?hou  wilt  at  length  exalt  us  where 
Thou  dost  in  glory  reign." 

Samuel  Wesley  himself  wrote  an  account  of  this  dire  disaster 
to  his  old  patron,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham ;  and  that  account  con- 
tains some  particulars  not  included  in  the  preceding  statement, 
taken  from  the  description  furnished  by  his  wife.  He  says,  that 
on  the  day  when  the  fire  occurred  they  had  been  brewing,  but  had 
finished  the  operation  at  least  six  hours  before  the  flames  broke 
out.  He  was  in  his  study  till  half-past  ten  o'clock,  but  neither  saw 
nor  smelled  anything  of  fire.  The  reason  why  he  slept  in  a  room 
separate  from  his  wife  was  because  she  was  near  her  confinement. 
Her  daughters,  Emilia  and  Susannah,  were  sleeping  with  her. 
When  he  was  aroused  by  the  cry  of  fire,  he  ran  to  her  room  with 
his  nightgown  and  one  stocking  on,  and  his  breeches  in  his  hand. 
They  had  about  £20,  in  gold  and  silver,  in  the  room  occupied 
by  Mrs  Wesley,  \^  hich  she  wanted  to  take  with  her ;  but  there 
was  no  time  for  this,  and  she  had  to  escape  for  her  life  as  she 
left  her  bed.  The  whole  family  had  to  flee  in  nothing  but  their 
night-dresses.  While  the  nurse  was  escaping  with  the  infant 
child,  Charles,  in  her  arms,  she  was  saluted  with  a  curse  by  one 


AGE  47.]  FIRE  AND  FURY.  329 

of  the  neighbours,  and  told  that  they  had  fired  the  house  them- 
selves, the  second  time,  on  purpose.  While  Wesley  was  runninci; 
about  the  street,  inquiring  for  his  wife  and  children,  he  met  the 
chief  man  and  chief  constable  of  the  town  going  from  the  house, 
not  towards  it.  Wesley  took  him  by  the  hand  and  said,  "  God's 
will  be  done ! "  His  surly  answer  was,  "  Will  you  never  have 
done  with  your  tricks  ?  You  fired  your  house  once  before.  Did 
you  not  get  money  enough  by  it  then  that  you  have  done  it 
again  ?  "  Wesley  replied,  "  God  forgive  you  !  I  find  you  are 
chief,  Maw,  still."  When  he  found  his  wife  she  was  almost 
speechless.  She  had  waded,  at  the  peril  of  her  life,  through  two 
or  three  yards  of  flame,  having  nothing  on  but  her  shoes  and 
a  wrapping  gown,  and  a  loose  coat,  which  she  held  about  her 
breast.  He  adds,  "When  poor  Jackey  was  saved,  I  could  not 
believe  it  till  I  had  kissed  him  two  or  three  times.  My  wife 
said,  '  Are  your  books  safe  ? '  I  told  her  it  was  not  much, 
now  she  and  all  the  rest  were  preserved  alive.  A  little  lumber 
was  saved  below  stairs ;  but  not  one  rag  or  leaf  above.  We 
found  some  of  the  silver  in  a  lump,  which  I  shall  send  up  to  Mr 
Hoare  to  sell  for  me.  Mr  Smith,  of  Gainsborough,  and  others, 
have  sent  for  some  of  my  children.  I  want  nothing,  having  above 
half  my  barley  safe  in  my  barns  unthrashed.  1  had  finished  my 
alterations  in  the  '  Life  of  Christ '  a  little  while  since,  and  tran- 
scribed three  copies  of  it ;  but  all  is  lost.  God  be  praised  !  I 
know  not  how  to  write  to  my  poor  boy  Samuel ;  and  yet  I  must, 
or  else  he  will  think  we  are  all  lost.  I  hope  my  wife  will  recover 
and  not  miscarry,  hut  God  will  give  me  my  nineteenth  child. 
She  has  burnt  her  legs ;  but  they  mend.  When  I  came  to  her 
her  lips  were  black.  I  did  not  know  her.  Some  of  the  children 
are  a  little  burnt,  but  not  hurt  or  disfigured.  I  only  got  a  small 
blister  on  my  hand.  The  neighbours  send  us  clothes,  for  it  is  cold 
without  them."  * 

How  are  we  to  account  for  these  repeated  fires  at  the  Epworth 
parsonage  ?  Were  they  the  efi'ect  of  design  or  of  accident  ?  Mr 
Maw,  the  chief  man  of  the  town,  who  more  than  thirty  years 
afterwards  seems  to  have  been  a  friend  to  John  Wesley,  and  to 
one  of  his  itinerants,  (see  Wesley's  Woi'ks,  vol.  i.  pp.  438  and  485  ; 
also,  vol.  ii.  p.  45,)  most  cruelly  charged  Mr  Wesley  with  settino- 
fire  to  the  house  himself  A  more  atrocious  accusation  could  not 
*  C.  Wesley's  Life,  vol.  ii.  p.  4a3.. 


330  THE  LIFE  A]ND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l709. 

have  been  cast  upon  liim.  What  reason  on  earth  was  there  to 
induce  such  a  man  to  commit  such  an  act  ?  It  is  true,  he  might 
expect  money  to  be  given  to  rebuild  his  house ;  but  was  that 
sufficient  to  induce  a  man  of  Wesley's  high  character  to  destroy 
not  only  all  his  furniture,  but  his  books,  sermons,  and  manuscripts  ; 
to  run  the  risk  of  killing  himself,  his  wife,  and  his  eight  children  ; 
and,  at  the  least,  to  leave  the  whole  of  them,  in  the  depth  of  win- 
ter, without  a  shred  of  clothing,  and  without  a  hut  to  shelter 
them ;  the  whole  family,  to  use  the  rector's  own  language,  being 
reduced,  in  regard  to  house,  furniture,  and  clothes,  to  the  same 
state  as  that  in  which  "  Adam  and  Eve  were  when  they  first  set 
up  housekeeping  ? "  To  suppose  the  very  possibility  of  such  a 
thino-  is  a  most  monstrous  outrage  against  reason  and  common 
sense ;  and  when  such  an  accusation  was  made  by  "  the  chief  man 
of  the  town,"  and  by  the  foul-mouthed  blasphemer  that  cursed 
the  nursemaid  and  little  Charles,  one  cannot  help  suspecting  that 
this  was  done,  not  because  they  thought  the  rector  guilty,  but  in 
order  to  hide  the  guilt  of  the  execrable  villains  whom  they  knew 
or  suspected  to  be  the  actual  perpetrators  of  the  deed. 

If  Wesley,  then,  was  not  himself  the  incendiary,  was  the  fire  an 
accident  ?  This  also  is  unlikely.  The  fire  did  not  occur  in  sum- 
mer, when  a  spark  might  ignite  the  thatch,  but  in  winter,  when 
the  thatch  was  saturated  with  rain,  and  snow.  It  occurred  not 
in  the  day  time,  but  at  the  hour  of  midnight,  when  all  the  fires 
of  the  house  were  extinguished.  It  broke  out  not  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  house,  but  in  the  roof  of  the  corn-chamber,*  filled  with 
wheat  and  other  grain,-|-  and  therefore  must  have  been  lighted 
from  without.  Wesley  supposes  the  possibility  of  the  chimney 
having  taken  fire  ;  but,  as  a  set-off  against  such  a  supposition,  he 
adds  that  the  chimney  had  recently  been  swept,  and  that  when  he 
went  to  bed,  about  half  an  hour  before  the  flames  were  seen,  he 
neither  saw  nor  smelled  anything  of  fire.  Put  all  these  facts  to- 
gether, and  the  conclusion  is  almost  inevitable  that  the  house  was 
not  fired  either  by  Wesley  himself,  or  by  accident.  If,  then,  the 
house  was  not  fired  by  the  rector  himself,  nor  yet  by  accident,  how 
did  the  disaster  happen  ?  John  Wesley,  and  probably  his  father, 
held  the  opinion  that  the  house  was  designedly  set  on  fire  by  some 
of  Mr  Wesley's  enemies.  What  evidence  is  there  in  favour  of  this 
opinion  ? 

*  Methodist  Magazine,  1846,  p.  1087.  t  C.  Wesley  &  Life,  vol.  ii.,  p.  405. 


AGE  47.]  FIRE  AND  FUKY.  331" 

First  of  all,  there  is  the  fact  that,  during  the  last  six  years,  Mr 
Wesley  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  great  controversy  of  the 
period, — the  exceedingly  bitter  controversy  between  the  Dissenters 
and  the  High-Church  party  of  the  Church  of  England.  This  had 
made  him  many  enemies. 

Secondly,  he  had,  four  years  before,  in  the  severely  contested 
county  election,  incurred  great  opprobrium,  and  not  a  little  dan- 
ger, by  voting  for  the  Tory  and  High-Church  candidates. 

Thirdly,  he  had  to  deal  with  dishonest  parishioners,  and  did  not 
always  treat  them  with  the  utmost  discretion.  Take  a  case  in 
point.  Many  of  the  parishioners  gave  him  trouble  about  his 
tithes,  and,  at  one  time,  would  only  pay  in  kind.  Going  into  a 
field  where  the  tithe  corn  was  already  separated  from  the  rest,  Mr 
Wesley  found  the  farmer  very  deliberately  cutting  off  the  ears  of 
corn  from  Wesley's  tithe  sheaves,  and  putting  them  into  a  bag. 
Wesley  walked  up  to  him,  but,  instead  of  accusing  him  of  his 
shabby  theft,  took  him  by  the  arm,  and  walked  with  him  into 
Epworth.  Reaching  the  market-place,  the  rector  suddenly  seized 
the  farmer's  bag,  and  turning  it  inside  out  before  all  the  people, 
told  them  of  the  petty  pilfering  of  which  the  farmer  had  been 
guilty.  He  then  left  him,  with  his  scattered  spoils,  to  the  judg- 
ment of  his  neighbours,  and,  with  the  utmost  composure,  went 
home  to  his  wife  and  family.  The  beggarly  thief  richly  deserved 
such  a  withering  exposure  ;  but  such  treatment  was  likely  to  tur-n 
such  delinquents  into  most  insatiable  enemies.* 

Fourthly,  added  to  all  this,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  at 
this  period,  the  23eople  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Epworth,  and  living 
in  the  Isle  of  Axholme,  were  little  better  than  Christian  savages, 
and  that  it  was  no  unusual  thing  for  them  to  vent  their  hatred  by 
burning  the  crops  and'  the  farm-steads  of  those  whom  they  re- 
garded as  their  enemies.  A  few  years  before  the  burning  of  the 
parsonage,  a  Mr  Reading,  with  commendable  spirit,  had  enclosed 
about  a  thousand  acres  of  Epworth  manor  with  a  good  substantial 
fence,  and  had  ploughed  it,  and  used  other  means  to  make  it  pro- 
ductive ;  and,  for  this  enterprising  act  and  for  other  reasons,  the 
half-brutal  inhabitants  assaulted  him  and  his  servants  wherever 
they  had  a  chance,  and  eveii  fired  guns  at  them.  They  destroyed  all 
Mr  Reading's  out-buildings  and  his  tenants'  houses ;  they  chipped 
his  fruit-trees,  burnt  his  fences,  and  turned  his  cattle  into  his 
*Moore'a  Life  of  J.  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  112. 


332  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1709. 

standing  corn  ;  and  finally  they  fired  his  house,  with  the  intention 
of  burning  him,  his  wife,  and  his  children  in  their  beds.  This 
lawless  mob  was  headed  by  a  furious,  termagant  woman,  called 
Popplewell  ;  and  she  and  some  others  of  her  companions  were 
indicted  at  Lincoln  assizes,  in  1694,  and  were  convicted,  but, 
strangely  enough,  were  allowed  to  escape  punishment  by  the  pay- 
ment of  a  paltry  fine. 

Mr  Reading,  after  this,  rebuilt  his  burnt  house  at  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  site  of  the  former  one ;  but  no  sooner  was  it 
finished  than  it  was  set  on  fire  during  the  night,  the  key-holes  of 
the  doors  being  filled  with  clay  to  prevent  the  family  making  their 
escape.  This  was  in  April  1697;  and  two  months  afterwards,  as 
though  it  was  not  enough  to  burn  a  man's  house  twice  over,  the 
rioters  proceeded  to  pull  down  his  farm  buildings,  broke  his  lead 
pump  in  pieces,  cut  down  his  orchard,  and  burnt  all  his  imple- 
ments of  husbandry.*  One  reason  assigned  for  all  this  lawless 
outrage  was  that  Mr  Reading  had  been  appointed  to  collect  the 
rents  of  the  sixty  thousand  acres  of  swamps  in  the  Isle  of  Ax- 
holme,  which,  at  an  expense  ©f  £56,000,  had  been  drained  during 
the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  and  on  which  recovered  lands  about  two 
hundred  Dutch  families  and  a  number  of  French  Protestants  had 
settled.  For  more  than  fifty  years  tumults  were  continual ;  and, 
in  1702,  Mr  Reading  drew  up  a  memorial,  in  which  he  mentions 
his  "  having  provided  horses,  arms,  and  necessaries,  with  twenty 
hired  men,  and  often  more,"  to  maintain  the  peace ;  and,  that 
"  after  thirty-one  set  battles,"  he  had  reduced  the  riotous  inhabi- 
tants to  obedience.  Proceedings  in  Chancery  were  instituted,  but 
these  unhappy  disputes,  respecting  the  proprietaryship  of  the  soil, 
were  not  finally  adjusted  till  I719.i* 

It  was  among  such  half-civilised  savages  that  Samuel  Wesley 
lived  and  laboured.  No  wonder  that,  as  in  the  case  of  his  neigh- 
bour Mr  Reading,  his  house  and  premises  should  be  set  on  fire 
once  and  again  within  the  space  of  seven  short  years.  At  that 
period  this  was  the  way  in  which  the  men  of  the  Isle  of  Axholme 
displayed  and  gratified  their  malignant  and  revengeful  feeling. 

The  second  burning  of  Mr  Wesley's  parsonage  was  a  terrible 
calamity.  Apart  from  the  loss  of  his  furniture,  books,  and  manu- 
scripts, it  was  a  serious  trial  for  himself,  his  pregnant  wife,  and 

*  Stonehonse's  History  of  Axholme. 
t  Methodist  Magazine,  1845,  p.  148. 


AGE  47.]  FIEE  AND  FUEY.  S33 

his  seven  children,  to  be  left  without  a  home,  and  almost  without 
a  rag  to  hide  their  nakedness.  The  children  were  divided  among 
their  neighbours,  relatives,  and  friends,  INIatthew  Wesley,  the  sur- 
geon, taking  two,  Susannah  and  Mehetabel.  The  rector  and  his 
wife,  of  course,  had  to  remain  at  Epworth,  and  provide  for  them- 
selves in  the  best  way  they  could.  The  house  was  rebuilt  within  a 
year  after  it  was  burnt ;  but  the  rector  was  so  impoverished  that 
thirteen  years  afterwards  his  wife  declares  that  the  house  was  still 
not  half  furnished,  and  that  to  that  very  day  she  and  her  children 
had  not  more  than  half  enough  of  clothing.*  No  wonder ;  for,  in 
the  self-same  letter,  Mrs  Wesley  expressly  states  that,  after  deduct- 
ing "taxes,  poor  assessments,  sub-rents,  tenths,  procurations,  and 
synodals,"  the  Epworth  living  brought  them  not  more  than  about 
£130  a  year.  Out  of  that  amount  the  rector  had  to  re-furnish  his 
house,  re-stock  his  library,  find  food  and  clothing  for  a  family  of 
ten  or  twelve,  and  provide  the  best  education  for  his  children  that 
he  could. 

The  new  parsonage  was  a  great  improvement  upon  the  old 
thatched  building  that  was  burnt.  It  is  thus  described  by  Dr 
Adam  Clarke,  who  visited  it  one  hundred  and  eleven  years  after  it 
was  built : — "  It  is  a  large,  plain  mansion,  built  of  brick,  with  a 
canted  roofed  and  tiled ;  a  complete  old-fashionBd  family  house, 
and  very  well  suited  for  nineteen  children.  The  attic  floor  is  en- 
tirely from  end  to  end  of  the  whole  building ;  the  floor  terraced, 
and  evidently  designed  for  a  repository  of  the  tithe  corn,  and 
where  it  would  be  kept  cool  and  safe.  In  the  churchyard  there  is 
a  sycamore  tree,  which  was  planted  by  the  hand  of  old  Samuel 
Wesley,  and  which  is  exactly  two  fathoms  in  circumference.  It  is 
become  hollow  at  the  root,  and  is  decaying  fast.  It  is  well  grown, 
and  has  shot  out  strong  and  powerful  boughs,  but  some  have  al- 
ready dropt  off,  and,  after  a  few  more  years,  it  will  have  neither 
root  nor  branch." 

This  was  in  1821.  Dr  A.  Clarke  represents  the  people  of  Ep- 
worth, at  that  time,  as  having  "  but  little  polish,  but  no  boorish- 
ness  in  their  manners."  They  appeared  to  be  good-natured,  simple, 
sincere,  humble,  and  singularly  modest,  and  retained  "  the  man- 
ners of  the  better  part  of  the  peasants  of  two  hundred  years  ago," 
so  that,  of  course,  in  the  doctor's  estimation,  they  were  still,  not- 
withstanding all  their  improvements,  two  hundred  years  behind 
*  Moore's  Life  of  J,  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  565. 


334  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l709. 

their  age.  The  doctor,  however,  was  highly  gratified  with  his 
visit ;  brought  away  with  him  a  pair  of  fire-tongs  which  had 
once  been  the  property  of  Samuel  Wesley ;  and  mentions  a  fact 
unparalleled  in  his  travellings,  viz.,  that,  on  leaving  Epworth,  he 
"had  no  road  for  upwards  of  forty  miles,  but  travelled  through 
fields  of  com,  wheat,  rye,  potatoes,  barley,  and  turnips,  often 
crushing  them  under  the  carriage  wheels."  Even  as  late  as  1821, 
there  seems  to  have  been  no  better  road  to  Epworth  than  this.* 

In  the  same  year  that  the  Epworth  parsonage  was  burut,  great 
excitement  was  created  in  the  nation  by  two  turbulent  sermons 
preached  by  Dr  Henry  Sacheverell,  one  at  Derby,  the  other  at  St 
Paul's. 

Henry  Sacheverell  was  ten  years  younger  than  Samuel  Wesley, 
He  obtained  the  rudiments  of  education  from  a  village  school- 
master, at  the  cost  of  an  apothecary,  on  whose  death,  his  widow 
sent  the  youth  to  Magdalene  College,  Oxford.  Here  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  some  clever  poems  in  Latin  ;  was  chosen  fellow 
of  his  college,  and  became  tutor  to  several  pupils  who  afterwards 
attained  great  eminence.  His  first  preferment  in  the  Church  was 
to  the  living  of  Cannock,  in  Staffordshire ;  whence  he  removed, 
in  1705,  to  St  Saviour's,  Southwark.  Four  years  after  his  remo- 
val hither,  he  preached  the  sermons  already  mentioned.  The  ser- 
mon at  Derby,  was  preached  at  the  assizes,  August  15,  1709,  and 
is  entitled,  "  The  Communication  of  Sin,  a  Sermon,  by  Henry 
Sacheverell,  D.D.  ;  published  at  the  request  of  the  gentlemen  of  the 
grand  jury,  London,  1709."  The  text  is,  "  Neither  be  partakers 
of  other  men's  sins."  One  extract  from  the  sermon  must  suffice. 
Speaking  of  men  propagating  sin  by  pernicious  writings,  he  says  : — 

"  How  do  these  execrable  miscreants,  Arius  and  Socinus, 
though  so  many  years  rotten  in  their  graves,  still  stink  above 
ground,  and  live  again  in  a  hellish  transmigration  of  their  dam- 
nable blasphemies  and  heresies  !  How  do  those  Atheistical  mon- 
sters, Hobbes  and  Spinoza,  in  their  accursed  books  and  proselytes, 
still  deny  the  God  that  made  them !  What  a  magazine  of  sin, 
what  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  debauchery  and  destruction  does 
any  author  of  heresy,  schism,  or  immorality,  set  up  !  Who  would 
have  thought,  threescore  years  ago,  that  the  romantic  and  silly 
enthusiasms  of  such  an  illiterate  and  scandalous  wretch  as  George 
Fox  should,  in  the  small  compass  even  of  our  own  memory,  gain  such 
Life  of  Dt  Clarke,  by  a  member  of  his  family,  vol.  ii.  p.  402. 


AGE  47.]  FIEE  AND  FURY.  335 

mighty  ground,  captivate  so  many  fools,  and  damn  them  with  dia- 
bolical inspiration  and  nonsensical  cant  ?  Or,  to  go  higher,  who 
would  have  thought  that  two  or  three  Jesuits,  in  masquerade, 
crept  into  a  conventicle,  should  sow  those  schismatical  seeds  of 
faction  and  rebellion,  that,  in  a  few  years,  should  rise  to  that  pro- 
digious degree,  as  to  be  able  to  grasp  the  crown,  contend  with  the 
sceptre  and  not  only  threaten,  but  accomplish  the  downfall  of  both 
Church  and  State  ?  And  are  not  the  same  hands  at  work  again  ? 
Were  ever  such  outrageous  blasphemies  against  God  and  all  reli- 
gion vented  publicly  with  impunity  as  at  present  in  our  own 
Church  and  kingdom?" 

The  sermon  at  St  Paul's  was  preached  on  the  5th  of  November 
1709,  and  is  entitled,  "  The  Perils  of  Palse  Brethren,  both  in 
Church  and  State."  It  is  dedicated  "  To  the  Eight  Honourable 
Sir  Samuel  Garrard,  Lord  Mayor  of  the  City  of  London.""  The 
sermon  is  long,  able,  and  eloquent  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  rabid 
and  almost  frantic.     The  following  are  specimens  : — 

Speaking  of  the  Church  of  England,  he  says :  "  Her  holy  com- 
munion has  been  rent  and  divided  by  factions  and  schismatical 
impostors  ;  her  pure  doctrine  has  been  corrupted  and  defiled ;  her 
primitive  worship  and  discipline  profaned  and  abused  ;  her  sacred 
orders  denied  and  vilified ;  her  priests  and  professors  calumniated, 
misrepresented,  and  ridiculed ;  her  altars  and  sacraments  prosti- 
tuted to  hypocrites.  Deists,  Socinians,  and  Athiests ;  and  all  this 
done,  not  only  by  our  professed  enemies,  but,  which  is  worse,  by 
our  pretended  friends  and  false  brethren." 

Having  laid  down  the  doctrine  of  "  absolute  and  unconditional 
obedience  to  kings  in  all  things  lawful,"  he  proceeds  to  say  :  "  This 
fundamental  doctrine,  notwithstanding  its  divine  sanction,  is  now, 
it  seems,  quite  exploded  and  ridiculed  out  of  countenance,  as  an 
unfashionable,  superannuated,  nay,  as  a  dangerous  tenet,  utterly 
inconsistent  with  the  right,  liberty,  and  property  of  the  people, 
who  have  the  power  invested  in  them  to  cancel  their  allegiance  at 
pleasure,  and  to  call  their  sovereign  to  account  for  high-treason 
against  his  supreme  subjects ;  yea,  to  dethrone  and  murder  him 
for  a  criminal,  as  they  did  the  royal  martyr,  by  a  judiciary  sen- 
tence. God  be  thanked,  these  damnable  positions,  let  them  come 
from  Rome  or  from  Geneva,  from  the  pulpit  or  the  press,  are 
condemned  for  rebellion  and  high-treason.  Where  is  the  differ- 
ence betwixt  the  power  granted  the  people  to  judge  and  dethrone 


33G  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l709, 

their  sovereigns  for  any  cause  they  think  fit,  and  the  no  less 
usurped  power  of  the  Pope  to  solve  the  people  from  their  alle- 
giance, and  to  dispose  of  sceptres  and  diadems  whenever  he  thinks 
it  his  interest  to  pluck  them  from  his  enemies  ?  If  such  a  depos- 
ing power  is  to  be  intrusted  into  the  hands  of  mortals,  less  in- 
convenience will  ensue  in  placing  it  in  one  than  in  many.  Our 
crown  and  constitution  can  never  be  safe  under  such  precarious 
dependencies  and  despotic  imaginations.  A  priiice  will  be  the 
breath  of  his  subjects'  nostrils,  to  be  blown  in  or  out  at  their 
caprice  and  pleasure,  and  a  worse  vassal  than  the  meanest  of  his 
guards.  Such  villainous  and  seditious  principles  as  these,  demand 
a  confutation  from  that  government  they  so  insolently  threaten 
and  arraign,  and  are  only  proper  to  be  answered  by  that  sword 
they  would  make  our  princes  bear  in  vain,  by  the  so  long-called- 
for  censure  of  an  ecclesiastical  synod,  and  the  correction  of  a 
provoked  and  affronted  legislature,  to  whose  strict  justice  and 
undeserved  mercy  I  commit  both  them  and  their  authors." 

Again,  speaking  of  the  Dissenters,  he  designates  them  "  filthy 
dreamers,  presumptuous  and  self-willed  men,  despisers  of  domi- 
nion, who  are  not  afraid  to  speak  evil  of  dignitaries,  and  who 
wrest  the  Word  of  God  to  their  own  destruction."  He  adds  : 
"  These  false  brethren  in  our  government  are  suffered  to  combine 
into  bodies  and  seminaries,  where  Atheism,  Deism,  Tritheism, 
Socinianism,  with  all  the  hellish  principles  of  fanaticism,  regicide, 
and  anarchy,  are  openly  professed  and  taught,  to  corrupt  and 
debauch  the  youth  of  the  nation.  Certainly  the  toleration  was 
never  intended  to  indulge  and  cherish  such  monsters  and  vipers 
in  our  bosom,  that  scatter  their  pestilence  at  noon-day^  and  will 
rend,  distract,  and  confound  the  firmest  and  best  settled  constitu- 
tion in  the  world.  It  is  true,  that  since  these  sectarists  and  sanc- 
tified hypocrites  have  found  out  a  way  to  swallow  not  only  oaths 
but  sacraments,  to  qualify  themselves  to  get  into  places  and  pre- 
ferments, they  can  put  on  a  show  of  loyalty  and  seem  tolerably 
easy  in  the  government ;  but  let  her  Majesty  reach  out  her  little 
finger  to  touch  their  loins,  and  these  sworn  adversaries  to  passive 
obedience  and  the  royal  family  shall  fret  themselves,  and  curse 
their  Queen,  and  their  God,  and  shall  look  upwards." 

Speaking  of  the  comprehension  scheme  of  Archbishop  Tillotson, 
he  says,  "  This  latitudinarian,  heterogeneous  mixture  of  all  persons 
of  what  different  faith  soever,  uniting  in  Protestancy,  would  ren- 


AGE  47.]  FIEE  AND  FUKY.  337 

der  the  Church  of  England  the  most  absurd,  contradictory,  and 
self-inconsistent  body  in  the  world.  This  spurious  and  vil- 
lainous notion,  which  will  take  in  Jews,  Quakers,  Mohammedans, 
and  anything  as  well  as  Christians,  our  false  brethren  have  made 
use  of  to  undermine  the  very  essential  constitution  of  our  Church. 
Her  worst  adversaries  must  be  let  into  her  bowels  under  the  holy 
umbrage  of  sons.  To  admit  this  religious  Trojan  horse,  big  with 
arms  and  ruin  into  our  holy  city,  the  strait  gate  must  be  laid 
quite  open  ;  and  the  pure  spouse  of  Christ  must  be  prostituted 
to  more  adulterers  than  the  scarlet  whore  in  the  Eevelations. 
This  was  indeed  a  ready  way  to  fill  the  house  of  God  with  pagan 
beasts  instead  of  Christian  sacrifices.  Our  Church  would  have 
been  ruined  by  the  blasted  and  long-projected  scheme  of  these 
ecclesiastical  Ahithophels  ;  a  scheme  so  monstrous,  that  even  the 
sectarists  of  all  sorts  laughed  at  it  as  ridiculous  and  impracti- 
cable." 

"  Let  the  Dissenters,  those  miscreants,  begot  in  rebellion,  born 
in  sedition,  and  nursed  up  in  faction,  enjoy  the  indulgence  the 
Government  has  condescended  to  give  them ;  but  let  them  also 
move  within  their  proper  sphere,  and  not  grow  eccentric,  and,  like 
comets  that  burst  their  orb,  threaten  the  ruin  and  downfall  of 
our  Church  and  State.  They  tell  us  they  have  relinquished  the 
principles  as  well  as  the  sins  of  their  forefathers ;  but,  if  so,  why 
do  they  not  renounce  their  schism,  and  come  sincerely  into  our 
Church  ?  Why  do  they  still  pelt  the  Church  with  more  blas- 
phemous libels,  and  scurrilous  lampoons,  than  were  ever  published 
in  Oliver's  usurpation  ?  Have  they  not  lately  villainously  divided 
us  with  knavish  distinctions  of  High  and  Low  Churchmen  ?  Are 
not  the  best  characters  they  give  us  those  of  Papists,  Jacobites, 
and  conspirators?" 

This  firebrand  sermon  was  delivered  before  the  Lord  Mayor 
and  Corporation  of  London,  in  St  Paul's  Cathedral,  on  the  5th  of 
November  1709.  The  magistrates  and  common-councilmen  gave 
thanks  to  the  thundering  preacher ;  the  discourse  was  printed, 
and  above  40,000  copies  distributed  throughout  the  kingdom. 
Parliament  met  on  the  15th  of  the  same  month,  and  the  House  of 
Commons  at  once  passed  a  resolution  to  the  effect,  that  this  ser- 
mon, and  also  another,  which  on  the  15th  of  August  previous 
Sacheverell  had  preached  at  Derby  Assizes,  "  were  malicious, 
scandalous,  and  seditious  libels,  highly  reflecting  upon  her  Majesty 

Y 


338  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l710. 

and  her  Government,  the  late  happy  Revolution,  and  the  Protestant 
succession,  as  bylaw  established;"  and  ordered  that  Dr  Henry 
Sacheverell  should  attend  at  the  bar  of  the  House.  Accordingly, 
on  December  14th,  Sacheverell  went  to  Westminster,  where  he 
was  met  by  a  hundred  of  the  most  eminent  clergymen  then  resi- 
dent in  and  about  the  capital,  including  the  Queen's  own  chap- 
lains. The  doctor  was  taken  into  custody,  and  impeached  at  the 
bar  of  the  House  of  Lords  of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanours. 
After  being  kept  in  custody  for  a  month,  he  was  on  the  18th  of 
January  1710,  admitted  to  bail.  The  trial  was  fixed  for  February 
27th,  and  the  Commons  resolved  to  be  present  as  a  committee  of 
the  whole  House,  and  a  place  was  prepared  for  them  accordingly 
in  Westminster  Hall.  The  articles  of  impeachment  were  four  in 
number,  and  were  m'ged  by  the  chief  members  of  her  Majesty's 
Government ;  while  Sacheverell  had  a  council  of  five  gentlemen 
employed  in  his  defence.  When  the  legal  advisers  on  both  sides 
had  said  all  that  they  had  to  say,  the  doctor  was  permitted  to 
speak  for  himself.  The  scene  was  immensely  imposing.  The 
trial  lasted  for  a  period  of  more  than  three  weeks,  from  February 
27th  to  the  23d  of  March.  The  greatest  excitement  prevailed 
both  in  town  and  country.  It  was  given  out  boldly,  and  in 
all  places,  that  the  Dissenters  were  about  to  recover  their  old 
ascendancy  ;  that  a  design  was  formed  by  the  Whig  Government 
to  pull  down  the  Church  ;  that  the  prosecution  of  Saclieverell 
was  only  to  try  their  strength,  and  that  upon  their  success  in  it 
they  would  proceed  to  their  object  openly  and  fearlessly.  The 
clergy  generally  espoused  Sacheverell  as  their  champion,  and 
used  their  pulpits  in  his  defence.  Many  places  were  full  of  riot, 
and  little  was  heard  throughout  the  country  except  the  old  war- 
cry  of  the  Church  in  danger.  In  London  there  was  every  day  a 
prodigious  mob  of  butchers*  boys,  chimney-sweepers,  scavengers, 
costermongers,  and  prostitutes;  and  the  more  respectable  class 
of  the  citizens  began  to  apprehend  that  all  this  drinking  and 
rioting  might  end  in  robbing,  maiming,  and  murdering.  In  West- 
minster Hall,  near  the  throne,  was  a  box,  where  the  Queen  sat, 
an  interested  listener,  in  a  private  character ;  one  platform  was 
raised  for  the  managers  of  the  impeachment,  and  another  for  the 
doctor  and  his  counsel.  On  one  side  of  the  hall,  benches  were 
erected  for  the  Commons  of  Great  Britain ;  and,  on  the  other, 
accommodations  were  provided  for  noble  ladies  and  gentlewomen ; 


AGE  48.]  FIEE  AND  FUKY.  339 

while,  at  the  end,  were  galleries  for  the  people  in  general.  When 
Sacheverell  left  the  hall,  on  the  first  day  of  his  trial,  to  return  to 
his  comfortable  and  well-stocked  lodging  in  the  Temple,  a  count- 
less mob  that  had  stood  shouting,  during  the  proceedings  in  Palace 
Yard,  followed  him  with  tremendous  huzzas ;  the  streets  were 
thronged ;  people  of  both  sexes  saluted  him  from  balconies  and 
windows  ;  while  the  doctor  pompously  returned  these  compliments 
from  the  chair  in  which  he  was  being  carried,  and  bowed  and 
nodded  like  a  Chinese  mandarin.  On  the  second  day  of  the  trial, 
the  mob  began  to  plunder  and  to  burn  the  Dissenters'  meeting- 
houses. The  first  attack  was  upon  Mr  Burgess's  chapel.  The 
pulpit  and  pews  were  pulled  in  pieces  ;  and  cushions.  Bibles, 
benches,  curtains,  sconces,  and  everything  else  combustible,  were 
carried  into  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  set  on  fire,  amid  shouts  of 
"  Hio;h  Church  and  Sacheverell !  Sacheverell  and  Hiirh  Church  !" 
Five  or  six  other  chapels  were  similarly  destroyed.  Bishop 
Burnet's  house  was  threatened,  and  a  man  standing  at  the  door 
had  his  skull  cleft  with  a  spade,  because  he  refused  to  shout, 
"The  Church  and  Sacheverell;"*  bat  a  detachment  of  the 
Guards  was  called  out  and  the  mob  dispersed. 

As  already  stated,  when  the  Commons  had  gone  through  their 
charges,  and  the  counsel  for  Sacheverell  had  spoken  in  his  defence, 
he  was  allowed  to  speak  for  himself.  It  was  a  noticeable  fact, 
however,  that  the  speech  which  Sacheverell  recited  differed  so 
widely  from  the  style  of  his  sermons  and  other  productions,  that 
it  was  evidently  the  work  of  another.  The  author  of  Knight's 
History  of  England,  thinks  it  probable  that  Sacheverell  was 
assisted  in  it  by  the  learning  of  Dr  Smalridge  and  Dr  Atterbury, 
both  of  whom  stood  by  his  side  during  nearly  the  whole  of  his 
lengthened  trial ;  and  others  have  suspected  that,  because  of  the 
help  thus  afforded,  Sacheverell,  by  his  will,  bequeathed  Atterbury 
a  legacy  of  £500.  It  so  happens,  however,  that  all  this  specula-., 
tion  is  beside  the  mark,  for  John  Wesley  most  emphatically 
declares  that  Sacheverell's  defence  was  v»'ritten  "  by  the  rector  of 
Epworth,"  his  father.-|-  If  we  are  asked  for  farther  evidence  of 
this,  we  have  none  to  give.  John  Wesley,  without  doubt,  had  the 
information  from  his  father,  and  both  he  and  his  father,  we  trust, 
are  above  the  suspicion  of  being  capable  of  giving  utterance  to  a 

*  Burnet's  JlUtor)/,  vol.  ii.  p.  542. 

t  Wesley's  lllstorj  of  England,  vol.  iv.  p.  75. 


340  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l710. 

statement  which  ;they  knew  to  be  .a  lie.  There  was  nothing  to 
induce  either  Wesley  or  his  father  to  claim  the  paternity  of  Sache- 
verell's  defence,  if  such  paterijity  had  not  been  a  fact ;  and  even 
if  circumstances  had  existed  to  render  it  an  honourable  distinc- 
tion to  be  recognised  as  the  author  of  s.uch  a  production,  John 
Wesley  and  his  father  were  among  the  last  men  in  the  world  to 
attempt  to  secure  honour  by  dishonourable  means.  Personally 
we  should  rejoice  if  the  authorship  belonged  to  Smalridge,  Atter- 
bury,  or  any  one  sooner  than  to  Samuel  Wesley ;  but,  after  the 
explicit  declaration  of  his  son,  we  are  forced  to  the  belief  that 
Sacheverell's  defence  was  a  defence  which  Wesley  wrote  for  Sache- 
verell  to  recite.  We  regret  this  for  a  twofold  reason ;  first,  be- 
cause Sacheverell,  liowever  able,  was  a  turbulent  priest,  not  worthy 
,of  the  help  of  such  g,  man  as  the  rector  of  Epworth  was ;  and, 
secondly,  because  it  proves  that  Wesley,  who  began  his  ministerial 
life  as  a  moderate  Churchman,  and  an  admirer  of  Archbishop 
Tillotson,  was  now  a  partisan  of  the  High  Church  clique,  and 
allied  with  men  who  regarded  the  Dissenters  with  the  bitterest 
hostility.  It  is  true  that  considering  the  treatment  which  Wesley 
had  received  from  his  old  friends,  the  Dissenters,  during  the  last 
six  years,  there  is  no  need  to  be  surprised  at  this ;  and  yet,  at 
the  same  time,  it  is  a  fact  which  the  writer  cannot  but  deplore. 

Sacheverell's  defence  lies  before  us,*  but  it  is  scarce  worth  quot- 
ing. He  remarks  that  the  charges  against  l;iim  are  very  serious ; 
and,  for  that  reason,  ought  to  be  sustained  by  the  clearer  proofs  ; 
whereas  all  that  had  been  adduced  had  been  "intendments,  un- 
necessary implications,  strained  constructions,  broken  sentences, 
and  independent  passages."  In  reference  to  the  first  article  of 
impeachment,  that  he  had  reflected  upon  the  late  revolution,  and 
suggested  that  the  means  to  bring  it  about  were  odious  and  un- 
justifiable, he  asserts  that  he  did  not  apply  his  doctrine  of  non- 
resistance  to  the  Revolution  ;  and  then  contends  that  so  far  as  the 
doctrine  itself  is  concerned,  it  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the 
teachings  of  the  apostles  and  of  the  Cliristian  fathers,  wdth  the 
laws  of  the  kingdom,  and  with  the  homilies  and  articles  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church.    In  answer  to  the  second  article,  that  he  had  defamed 

*  It  is  entitled,  "The  Speech,  of  Henry  Sacheverell,  D.D.,  upon  his  impeach- 
ment at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords,  in  Westminster  Hall,  March  7,  1710. 
London,  1710."  It  was  published  by  Sacheverell  himself,  and  is  a  small  octavo  of 
twenty-four  pages. 


AGE  48.]  FIRE  AND  FUEY.  341 

the  Dissenters,  and  cast  scnrrilous  reflections  upon  those  who 
favoured  and  defended  liberty  of  conscience,  he  admits  that  he 
had  spoken  with  some  warmth  against  hypocrites,  Socinians,  and 
Deists ;  but  he  also  contends  that  he  ha;d  declared,  his  approval  of 
the  indulgence  granted  to  the  Dissenters  by  the  law  of  toleration. 
As  to  the  third  article,  that  he  had  said  the  Church  was  in  danger 
under  her  Majesty's  administration,  he  denies  it  altogether ;  but, 
at  the  same  time  says,  that  the'  Church  is  in  danger  from  the  pro- 
faneness  and  immorality,  the  heresies  and  schisms  of  the  king- 
dom ;  for  "  never  were  the  ministers  of  Christ  so'  abased  and 
vilified,  and  the  Divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures  so  arraigned 
and  ridiculed  ;  never  were  infidelity  and  atheism  so  impudent  and 
barefaced  as  they  are  at  present."  In  reference  to  the  fourth 
article,  that  he  had  reproachfully  called  those,  whom  the  Queen 
had  promoted  to  high  stations  in  Church  and  State,  spurious  and 
false  brethren,  he  contends  that  he  was  as  loyal  as  any  man  among 
them,  and  that  his  sermons  and  his  whole  behaviour  proved  it. 
He  concluded  by  declaring  that,  "  whether  he  was  acquitted  or 
condemned,  he  should  always  pray  for  the  Queen  his  sovereign, 
their  lordships,  his  judges,  and  the  Conimons,  his  accusers  ;  and 
he  trusted  that  God  would  deliver  them  from  all  false  doctrine, 
heresy,  and  schism ;  from  hardness  of  heart  and  contempt  of  His 
Word  ;  from  envy,  hatred,  and  malice,  and  all  un<3haritableness." 

The  result  of  this  remarkable  trial  was,  that,  on  March  20th, 
sixty-eight  members  of  the  House  of  Lords  foUnd  Dr  Sacheverell 
guilty  of  the  high  crimes  and  misdemeanours  charged  against  him 
by  the  impeachment  of  the  House  of  Commons ;  and  fifty-two 
found  him  not  guilty.  Three  days  after,  his  sentence  was  pro- 
nounced,' to  the  effect  that  he  should  not  preach  during  the  three 
years  next  ensuing ;  and  that  his  two  printed  sermons  referred  to 
in  the  impeachment,  should  be  burnt  before  the  Royal  Exchange, 
on  March  27th,  by  the  hands  of  the  common  hangman,  in  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  of  the  Sheriffs  of 
London  and  Middlesex. 

This  mild  sentence  was  looked  upon  by  the  friends  of  Sache- 
verell rather  as  an  acquittal  than  as  a  condemnation ;  and,  on 
that  and  the  following  nights,  bonfires  illuminated  the  streets  of 
London  and  Westminster ;  there  was  a  deluge  of  ale  and  beer, 
and  all  who  passed  were  compelled  to  drink  the  health  of  the 
glorious  *  Sacheverell.     As  for  the  doctor  himself,  he  was  now  a 


VA2  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l710. 

greater  man  than  ever.  He  returned  from  Westminster  Hall  in  a 
grand  ecclesiastical  triumjDli.  Wherever  he  went,  he  was  followed 
by  a  prodigious  train  of  butchers'  boys,  link  boys,  and  the  like, 
who  made  the  welkin  ring  with  their  enthusiastic  shouts.  His 
health  was  drunk  in  bumpers  at  festive  gatherings  innumerable  ; 
and  even  handkerchiefs  and  fans  were  embellished  with  his  por- 
trait. In  the  month  of  May,  he  began  his  triumphal  progress 
through  the  kingdom,  and  was  looked  upon  as  another  Hercules 
of  the  church  militant.  Wherever  he  went,  his  emissaries  were 
sent  before  him  M'ith  his  portrait ;  pompous  entertainments  were 
made  for  him  ;  and  a  mixed  multitude  of  clergymen  and  sextons, 
country  singers  and  fiddlers,  a  mob  of  all  conditions,  male  and 
female,  crowded  together  to  meet  and  welcome  him.  At  Exeter, 
the  rabble  made  bonfires,  and  broke  the  windows  of  a  dissenting 
meeting-house.  At  Oxford,  Hoadley's  effigy  and  books  were 
burned.  At  Sherborne,  some  of  the  mob  drank  Sacheverell's 
health,  on  their  knees,  in  the  Town  Hall,  in  the  church,  and  on 
the  church  steeple  ;  while  others  paraded  the  town,  with  a  drum, 
cursing  the  Presbyterians  and  firing  at  their  houses.  At  Ponte- 
fract,  the  crowd  battered  the  dissenting  chapel,  and  thought  it  a 
high  honour  to  have  their  children  christened  Sacheverell.  At 
Gloucester,  they  kindled  bonfires,  rang  the  church  bells,  and  drank 
Sacheverell's  health,  with  damnation  to  Dissenters.  At  Cirencester, 
they  placed  the  effigy  of  King  William  on  a  diminutive  horse, 
which  they  made  to  throw  it,  in  remembrance  of  the  fate  that 
hastened  the  king's  death,  and  then  threw  the  efl&gy  into  a  fire. 
They  also  had  a  cock-fight,  calling  one  of  the  fowls  Burgess,  and 
the  other  Sacheverell ;  but  after  a  lengthened  and  hard  battle, 
cock  Burgess  unfortunately  killed  cock  Sacheverell.*  At  Bridge- 
north,  Sacheverell  was  met  by  four  thousand  men  on  horseback, 
and  as  many  on  foot,  wearing  white  knots,  edged  with  gold.  The 
hedges,  for  two  miles,  were  dressed  with  garlands,  and  the  church 
steeples  covered  with  streamers,  flaga,  and  colours."!"  T^^^'^s  clerical 
progress  was  made  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Whig  parliament, 
and  during  the  turbulence  of  a  new  election,  and  hence  its  motives, 
successes,  and  excesses  may  be  imagined.  The  University  of  Ox- 
ford held  a  feast  to  welcome  the  champion  of  the  Church.  The 
stately  mansions  of  the  Tory  nobility  were  thrown  open  at  his 

*  Complete  History  of  the  A  fair  of  Dr  Sacheverell .     London,  1711. 
t  Wesley's  History  of  Evr/lancl,  vol.  iv.  p.  76. 


AGE  48.]  FIRE  AND  FUEY.  343 

approach  ;  and,  in  several  towns,  he  was  received  by  the  mayors 
and  magisti'ates  in  their  formalities.  The  avenues  to  these  towns 
vi^ere  lined  with  spectators,  the  hedges  and  trees  were  hung  with 
garlands  of  flowers  ;  flags  were  displayed  on  the  church  steeples; 
and  the  air  resounded  with  cries  of  "  Sacheverell  and  the  Church." 
After  a  few  weeks,  however,  sobriety  began  to  return  ;  the  doctor's 
picture  was  frequently  torn  in  pieces,  and,  in  maiiy  places,  he 
himself  was  rudely  treated.  Sacheverell  had  done  his  work, 
and  had,  more  than  any  other  cause,  helped  the  Tories  back  to 
their  seats  of  ofiice.  In  1713,  the  Queen  presented  him  to  the 
valuable  rectory  of  Sb  Andrew's,  Holborn.  The  first  sermon 
which  he  preached  in  the  church  of  that  parish,  he  sold  for  £100, 
and  forty  thousand  copies  of  it  were  speedily  bought  by  eager 
purchasers.  After  this,  he  gradually  dwindled  into  insignificance, 
and  signalised  himself  only,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  by 
contemptible  squabbles  with  his  parishioners.  He  died  at  the 
age  of  fifty-two,  in  172-i.  "He  was,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,  "a 
bold,  insolent  man,  with  a  very  small  measure  of  religion,  virtue, 
learning,  or  good  sen^je ;  but  he  forced  himself  into  popularity 
and  preferment  by  the  most  jDetulant  railings  at  Dissenters  and 
Low  Churchmen!"  Daniel  Defoe  says  of  him,  "Bear-garden 
language  is  his  peculiar  talent.  He  is  known  in  his  books  as 
a  pulpit  incendiary ;  the  Church's  bloody  standard-bearer ;  the 
trumpeter  sent  out  by  High  Church  authority  to  preach  against 
union,  to  proclaim  open  war  between  parties,  and  to  hang  out 
flags  of  defiance." 

"  High  Church  buffoon,  and  Oxford's  stated  jest, 
A  noisy,  saucy,  swearing,  drunken  priest." 

Sucb  was  the  man  whom  Samuel  Wesley  helped  in  an  emer- 
gency. We  are  sorry  to  register  such  a  fact,  but  truth  and  honesty 
compel  us.  The  only  excuse  which  can  be  suggested  is,  that 
during  the  last  few  years,  the  rector  of  Epworth  had  been  a 
serious  sufferer  from  dissenting  hatred,  and  that  his  rid  dissenting 
friends  were  now  his  bitterest  enemies. 

The  new  parliament  met  on  the  25th  of  November  1710,  and 
the  Queen,  in  her  opening  speech,  showed  that  she  was  in  the 
hands  of  new  advisers.  She  no  longer  condescended  to  use  the 
word  toleration,  but  spoke  of  indulgence  to  be  allowed  "  to 
scrupulous  consciences."  This  term  of  indulgence  was  the  more 
observed,  because  it  was  the  pet  word  of  Sacheverell^  who  held, 


344  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l710. 

that  whatever  liberty  of  conscience  Dissenters  had,  was  a  matter 
of  indulgence,  and  not  of  right.  The  Whigs  were  now  in  a  minor- 
ity, and  the  Tories  were  the  ruling  power. 

Convocation,  of  course,  met  on  the  same  day  as  parliament,  and 
of  this  ecclesiastical  synod  Samuel  Wesley  was  a  member  ;  an 
honour  perhaps  awarded  him  for  the  service  which,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year,  he  had  rendered  to  Sacheverell.  The  clergy  of 
the  Lower  House  chose  Dr  Atterbury,  Dean  of  Carlisle,  for  their 
prolocutor ;  and  then  came  down  a  royal  rescript,  very  different 
to  that  to  which  they  had  of  late  years  been  accustomed,  a  licence 
empowering  convocation  to  enter  upon  such  consultations  as  the 
present  state  of  the  Church  required.  The  subjects  to  be  discussed 
were, — 1,  The  late  exces&ive  growth  of  infidelity,  heresy,  and  pro- 
faneness ;  2.  Excommunications,  and  abuses  of  commutation 
money ;  3.  The  visitation  of  prisoners,  and  the  admission  of  con- 
verts from  the  Church  of  Eome  ;  4.  Rural  Deans  ;  5.  The  glebes 
and  tithes  belonging  to  benefices  ;  6.  Clandestine  marriages.  As 
usual,  the  two  houses  were  at  constant  variance  with  each  other. 
Most  of  the  winter  was  spent  in  discussing  the  heresies  of  Whis- 
ton'a  "  Primitive  Christianity  Revived,"  This  learned,  ingenious, 
but  eccentric  man  had  succeeded  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  in  1703,  at 
Cambridge,  as  Lucasian  Professor  of  Mathematics ;  but  had  re- 
cently adojited  Arian  principles,  and  published  them  in  the  book 
already  mentioned.  For  this,  he  was  expelled  from  Cambridge, 
and  was  censured  by  convocation.  There  was  an  endless  amount 
of  talk ;  but  this  was  the  only  business  done,  when  convocation 
closed  on  the  12th  of  June  1711-  The  House  of  Commons,  how- 
ever, took  into  consideration  the  want  of  churches  in  London, 
and  the  thanks  of  the  lower  house  of  convocation  were  pre- 
sented to  them  by  the  prolocutor,  who  also  submitted  a  scheme 
for  the  new  churches.  On  the  7th  of  May  1711,  the  Commons 
resolved  to  grant  to  her  Majesty  £350,000  for  the  building  of 
fifty  new  churches,  and  the  purchasing  of  sites  of  churches, 
churchyards,  and  ministers'  houses,  in  and  about  the  cities  of 
London  and  Westminster.  This  magnificent  scheme  originated 
in  the  convocation  of  which  Samuel  Wesley  was  a  member ;  but, 
of  course,  it  was  carried  into  effect  by  parliament.* 

On  the  7th  of  December  1711,  parliament  re-assembled,  and 
convocation  as  well.  Convocation  did  nothing,  except  discuss 
*  Life  of  Queen  Anne  ;  also,  Lathbury's  History  of  Convocation. 


AGE  48.]  FIRE  AND  FURY.  345 

priestly  absolution  and  lay  baptism ;  *  but  parliament  signalised 
itself  by  passing  the  notorious  "  Occasional  Conformity  Bill,** 
which  had  been  trying  to  struggle  into  life  for  the  last  ten  years. 

Whilst  Samuel  Wesley  was  attending  these  sessions  of  convoca- 
tion, his  wife  was  doing  her  utmost  to  supply  his  lack  of  service 
among  his  parishioners.  The  following  facts  are  taken  from  a 
letter,  dated  "Feb.  6,  1711-12,"  and  addressed  to  'Hhe  Rev.  Mr 
Wesley,  in  St  Margaret's  Churchyard,  Westminster."-}-  After 
giving  a  detailed  account  of  the  manner  in  which  she  had  been 
led  to  adopt  tlie  practice  of  reading  to  and  instructing  her  family, 
Mrs  Wesley  proceeds  to  state,  that  the  servant  lad  had  told  his 
parents  of  these  family  gatherings,  and  they  desired  to  be  admitted. 
They  told  others,  who  begged  the  same  permission,  until  these 
domestic  congregations  amounted  to  thirty  or  forty  individuals. 
Mrs  Wesley  read  to  them  the  best  and  most  awakening  sermons 
she  could  find,  and  discoursed  with  them  freely  and  affectionately. 
The  congregation  still  grew,  until  now  it  numbered  above  two 
hundred,  and  on  the  Sunday  before  the  letter  was  written,  many 
had  been  obliged  to  gO'  away  through  there  not  being  room  for 
them  to  stand. 

*  At  this  time,  says  Bishop  Burnet,  there  appeared  an  inclination  in  many  of 
the  clergy  to  a  nearer  approach  to  the  Chtu'ch  of  Rome.  Hicks,  who  was  now  at 
the  head  of  the  Jacobite  party,  had,  in  several  books,  promoted  the  notion  that 
there  was  a  proper  sacrifice  made  in  the  eucharist.  He  also  openly  condemned 
the  supremacy  of  the  crown  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  the  method  in  which  the 
Reformation  was  carried.  One  Brett  preached  a  sermon,  in  several  of  the  pulpits 
of  London,  which  he  afterwards  printed,  in  which  he  said  no  repentance  could 
serve  without  priestly  absolution,  and  affirmed  that  the  priest  was  vested  with  the 
same  power  of  pardoning  that  our  Saviour  himself  had.  Another  conceit  was  the 
invalidity  of  lay  baptism,  and  that,  as  dissenting  teachers  were  laymen,  they  and 
their  congregations  ought  to  be  rebaptized.  Dod well  left  all  who  died  without  the 
sacraments  to  the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  God ;  and  maintained  that  none  had 
a  right  to  give  the  sacraments  except  the  apostles,  and,  after  them,  bishops  and 
priests  ordained  by  them.  The  bishops  thought  it  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  such 
doctrines,  and  agreed  to  a  declaration  against  the  irregularity  of  all  baptism  by 
persons  not  in  holy  orders ;  but  yet  allowing  that,  according  to  the  practice  of  the 
primitive  Church,  and  the  constant  usage  of  the  Church  of  England,  no  baptism 
ought  to  be  reiterated.  Archbi.shop  Sharpe  (the  friend  of  Samuel  Wesley)  refused 
to  sign  the  declaration,  pretending  that  it  would  encourage  irregular  baptisms. 
The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with  most  of  the  bishops  of  his  province,  submitted 
the  matter  to  the  convocation.  It  was  agreed  to  in  the  Upper  House,  but  the 
Lower  House  refused  even  to  consider  it,  because  it  would  encourage  those  who 
struck  at  the  dignity  of  the  priesthood.  This  was  all  that  passed  in  the  convoca- 
tion of  1712. — (Burnet's  History  of  His  Own  Times,  1st  edit.,  vol.  ii.  p.  605.) 

t  Methodist  Magazine,  1781,  p.  313. 


346  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l712. 

Mrs  Wesley  had  thus,  unintentionally,  become  a  sort  of  female 
preacher.  Why  did  she  begin  these  services  ?  She  says,  because 
she  thought  the  end  of  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath  was  not 
fully  answered  by  attending  church  unless  the  intermediate  spaces 
of  time  were  filled  up  by  other  acts  of  piety  and  devotion  ;*  but 
we  incline  to  think  there  was  another  reason  beside  this.  Mr 
Wesley,  being  so  much  in  London,  required  a  curate  to  supply  his 
place  at  Epworth,  and  it  so  happened  that  his  curate  at  this 
period,  Mr  Inman,  was  not  so  efticient  as  was  desirable.  On  one 
occasion,  when  Wesley  returned  from  London,  the  parishioners 
complained  that  the  curate  had  "  preached  nothing  to  his  con- 
gregation, except  the  duty  of  paying  their  debts,  and  behaving 
well  among  their  neighbours."  The  complainants  added,  "  We 
think,  sir,  there  is  more  in  religion  than  this."  Mr  Wesley  re- 
plied, "  There  certainly  is ;  I  will  hear  him  myself."  The  curate 
was  sent  for,  and  was  told  that  he  must  preach  next  Lord's-day, 
the  rector  at  the  same  time,  saying,  "I  suppose  you  can  prepare 
a  sermon  upon  any  text  I  give  you."  "  Yes,  sir,"  replied  the 
ready  curate.  "  Then,"  said  Wesley,  "  prepare  a  sermon  on  Heb, 
xi.  6,  '  Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God.'"  The  time 
arrived,  and  the  text  being  read  with  great  solemnity,  the  curate 
began  his  brief  sermon,  by  saying — "Friends,  faith  is  a  most 
excellent  virtue,  and  it  produces  other  virtues  also.  In  particular, 
it  makes  a  man  pay  his  debts ;"  and  thus  he  proceeded  for  about 
fifteen  minutes,  when  the  rector  clearly  saw  that  paying  debts  was 
the  alpha  and  the  omega  of  the  curate's  theology.  It  is  scarce 
likely  that  the  ministry  of  such  a  man  would  satisfy  the  enlight- 
ened mind  and  religious  heart  of  Susannah  Wesley ;  and  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  she  should  try  to  supply  its  defects 
by  reading  to  her  children  and  to  two  hundred  of  her  neighbours, 
on  Sunday  evenings,  the  best  sermons  she  could  find  in  her  hus- 
band's Kbrary. 

The  congregations  of  the  rector's  wife  were  probably  larger  than 
those  of  the  rector's  curate.  Inman  heard  of  these  gatherings,  and 
wrote  to  Mr  Wesley,  complaining  that  Mrs  Wesley,  in  his  absence, 
had  turned  the  parsonage  into  a  conventicle  ;  that  the  church  was 
likely  to  be  scandalised  by  such  irregular  proceedings,  and  that 
they  ought  not  to  be  tolerated  any  longer.  Mr  Wesley  wrote  to  his 
wife,  suffo-estinof  that  she  should  let  some  one  else  read  the  sermons. 
•  Methodist  Magazine,  1781,  p.  313. 


AGE  50.]  FIRE  AND  FURY.  847 

She  replied  that  there  was  not  a  man  among  them  that  could  read 
a  sermon  without  spoiling  a  good  part  of  it,  and  that  none  of  her 
children  had  a  voice  strong  enough  to  be  heard  by  so  many  people. 
The  only  thing  that  disquieted  her  was  "  presenting  the  prayers  of 
the  people  to  God."  She  had  been  obliged  to  do  this,  but,  because 
of  her  sex,  she  doubted  its  propriety. 

The  curate  still  complained,  and  the  rector,  Avriting  to  his  wife, 
desired  that  the  meetings  should  be  discontinued.  She  replied 
that  Inman  and  a  man  called  Whiteley,  and  one  or  two  others,  were 
tlie  only  persons  in  the  parish  that  had  raised  comjDlaints  ;  that 
calling  the  meeting  a  conventicle  did  not  alter  the  nature  of  the 
thing;  and  that,  notwithstanding  its  alleged  scandal,  it  had  been  the 
means  of  bringing  more  people  to  the  church  than  anything  else 
had  been,  for  the  afternoon  congregation  had  been  increased  by  it 
from  twenty  to  above  two  hundred,  which  was  a  larger  con- 
gregation than  Inman  had  been  accustomed  to  have  in  the 
morning ;  some  families  who  seldom  went  to  church  now  began  to 
go  constantly ;  and  one  person,  who  had  not  been  there  for  seven 
years,  was  now  attending  with  the  rest.  Besides  all  this,  the  meet- 
ings had  been  the  means  of  conciliating  the  minds  of  the  people 
towards  the  Wesley  family,  and  they  now  lived  in  the  greatest 
amity  imaginable.  After  stating  these  facts,  Mrs  Wesley  adds  :— 
"  If,  after  all  this,  you  think  fit  to  dissolve  this  assembly,  do  not 
tell  me  that  you  desire  me  to  do  it,  for  that  will  not  satisfy  my 
conscience  ;  but  send  me  your  positive  command  in  such  full  and 
express  terms  as  may  absolve  me  from  all  guilt  and  punishment  for 
neglecting  this  opportunity  of  doing  good,  when  you  and  I  shall 
appear  before  the  great  and  awful  tribunal  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  *  What  the  upshot  was  we  have  no  means  of  knowing. 
John  and  Charles  Wesley  were  present  at  these  irregular  meetings 
— the  first  Methodist  meetings  ever  held — Charles  a  child  four 
years  old,  and  John  a  boy  of  nine.  "  Behold  how  great  a  matter 
a  little  fire  kindleth  1 " 

*  Whitehead's  Life  of  Wesley,  p.  54, 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PRETERNATURAL  NOISES. — 1716-1717. 

From  the  earliest  times,  men  have  believed  in  apparitions,  or  pre- 
ternatural ajjpearances  of  spirits.  The  Jews,  in  the  days  of  Moses, 
were  commanded  not  to  suffer  a  witch  to  Jive.  The  Greeks  and  the 
Romans  had  their  demons  or  genii.  In  the  days  of  Christ  there 
were  demoniacs.  Origen  conceived  that  souls  tainted  by  flagrant 
crimes  were  either  confined  in  a  species  of  limbo,  or  attached  to 
particular  spots,  where  within  certain  limits,  they  might  ramble 
about  at  pleasure.  Popery,  from  the  first,  countenanced  and  fos- 
tered the  doctrines  of  witchcraft  and  demonology,  its  priests 
strengthening  their  dominion  by  practising  conjurations,  and  its 
monks  fabricating  legends  suited  to  the  prevailing  taste.  Martin 
Luther  believed  as  firmly  in  diabolical  apparitions  as  the  most 
illiterate  monk  in  the  Popish  Church,  which  he  laboured  to  destroy. 
And,  in  more  recent  times,  men  like  Dr  Henry  More,  Andrew 
Baxter,  and  Joseph  Glanvil,  (all  contemporaneous  with  Samuel 
Wesley,)  wrote  most  learnedly  to  prove  that  the  doctrine  of  ap- 
paritions is  deducible  from  the  nature  of  the  sOu:l,  the  testimony 
of  Scripture,  and  the  evidence  of  fact.  On  the  other  hand,  most 
elaborate  works  against  the  doctrine  were  published,  about  the 
same  period,  by  the  celebrated  Thomasius,  and  by  Dr  Balthasar 
Bekker.  Down  to  the  sixteenth  century,  in  Europe,  witchcraft 
universally  prevailed;  and  even  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  it  maintained  its  ground  with  considerable  firmness. 
In  England,  the  belief  in  witchcraft  was  supported  by  the  royal 
authority  of  James  I.,  was  countenanced  by  Lord  Bacon,  and  was 
generally  adopted  among  the  people ;  and  there  was  only  one  writer, 
Reginald  Scot,  who  was  hardy  enough  to  write  against  it.  Sup- 
posed witches  were  weighed  against  the  Church  Bible,  which,  if 
the  accused  persons  were  guilty,  would  preponderate.     They  were 


AGE  54.]  PEETEKNATUKAL  NOISES.  349 

placed  in  the  middle  of  a  room  cross-legged,  bound  with  cords, 
and  sitting  on  a  stool ;  were  kept  without  food  and  sleep  for  four- 
and-twenty  hours,  and  were  watched  all  the  while  to  see  the  witch's 
imps,  in  the  shape  of  flies  and  spiders,  come  to  suck  her  breasts. 
They  were  made  to  repeat  the  Lord's  jirayer,  because  no  witch 
could  repeat  it  without  omitting  some  of  its  .sentences.  A  witch 
could  not  weep  more  than  three  tears,  and  that  only  out  of  the 
left  eye.  After  binding  the  right  thumb  to  the  left  toe,  and  the 
right  toe  to  the  left  thumb,  the  supposed  witch  was  thrown  into  a 
river,  and,  unless  she  sank,  she  was  proved  guilty ;  because,  accord- 
ing to  the  infallible  teaching  of  King  James,  having  renounced  her 
baptism  by  water,  the  water  renounced  her.  By  such  trials  as 
these,  and  by  the  accusations  of  children,  old  women,  and  fools, 
thousands  of  unhappy  persons  were  condemned  for  witchcraft,  and 
were  burnt  to  death.  Without  questioning  the  reality  of  such  a 
thing  as  witchcraft,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  witnesses,  by  whose 
evidence  supposed  witches  were  condemned,  were,  in  most  cases, 
either  weak  enthusiasts  or  downright  villains ;  and  that  the  con- 
fessions ascribed  to  the  witches  themselves  were,  in  many  in- 
stances, the  effects  of  a  disordered  imagination,  produced  by  cruel 
treatment  and  excessive  watcliings. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that,  from  early  life,  Samuel  Wesley 
was  a  believer  in  the  docrine  of  apparitions.  In  vol.  i.  of  the 
Athenian  Oracle,  (p.  185,)  it  is  assumed  that  the  soul,  after  its 
separation  from  the  body,  may  again  be  clothed  with  some  sort  of 
aerial,  fiery,  or  cloudy  vehicle,  and  be  visible  to  our  senses  ;  and 
instances  are  given  of  apparitions  at  Puddle  Dock,  London,  and  at 
the  Grange,  in  Lancashire.  In  another  article  of  the  same  volume, 
(p.  289,)  it  is  said — "  That  spirits  have  sometimes  really  appeared 
to  mortals  is,  amongst  all  sober  men,  beyond  controversy ;"  and 
Luke  xxiv.  37  is  quoted  in  support  of  such  a  theory.  In  a  third 
article,  vol.  i.  p.  296,  ten  apparition  cases  are  related,  and  the 
writer  concludes  thus  : — "  The  next  step  to  the  disbelieving  such 
things  is  the  denial  of  the  soul's  existence  out  of  the  body ;  and, 
if  that  be  admitted,  farewell  all  moral  virtues  and  the  expectation 
of  rewards  and  punishments  hereafter."  Again,  page  153,  it  is 
argued  that  there  is  no  nation  or  language  in  which  there  is  not 
some  word  expressive  of  the  idea  of  witchcraft,  and  that,  if  witches 
had  not  really  existed,  it  v/as  an  absurd  thing  for  Almighty  God 
to  make  a  law  commanding  them  to  be  put  to  death.     Many  other 


350  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l716. 

articles  of  a  like  character  may  be  found  in  the  other  volumes  of 
the  same  work,  proving,  beyond  a  doubt,  that,  at  the  commencement 
of  his  ministerial  life,  Samuel  Wesley  believed  in  witches  and  in 
ghosts.  We  must  now  proceed  to  give,  in  as  condensed  a  form  as 
possible,  the  account  of  the  old  Jeffrey  apparition  at  Ep worth 
Parsonage,  For  the  preservation  of  that  account  we  are  in- 
debted to  the  Kev.  Samuel  Badcock,  and  for  its  publication  to 
Dr  Priestley. 

Badcock  was  born  about  the  year  17o0,  and,  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, became  the  minister  of  one  of  the  most  considerable  Dissent- 
ing congregations  in  Devonshire.  On  his  removal  from  Barnstaple, 
he  was  elected  minister  at  South  Moulton.  He  now  turned  his 
attention  to  literature,  and  became  a  correspondent  of  the  London 
and  monthly  reviews,  and  of  the  chief  London  magazines.  About 
three  years  before  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1788,  he  renounced 
the  Dissenting  ministry,  and  was  ordained  a  priest  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church.* 

This  man,  by  means  of  Mrs  Earle,  the  daughter  of  Samuel 
Wesley,  jun.,  became  possessed  of  a  large  mass  of  Wesley  MSS., 
some  of  which  he  published  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  and  in 
other  publications  of  that  period.  The  rest  he  gave  to  his  friend 
Dr  Priestley.  These  included  a  "  copy  of  Mr  Wesley's  Diary,"  and 
copies  of  letters  written  by  his  daughters  to  the  absent  members 
of  the  family,  all  in  the  hand-writing  of  Mr  Samuel  Wesley,  jun. 
This  MS.  was  lent  by  Priestley  to  a  friend,  and  for  a  time  was  lost; 
but  at  length  it  was  restored,  and,  in  1791,  was  published,  f 
Priestley,  in  his  preface,  says,  "  This  is  perhaps  the  best  authen- 
ticated, and  the  best  told  story  of  the  kind,  that  is  anywhere 
extant."  The  account,  as  published  in  detail  by  Dr  Priestley, 
fills  forty-seven  octavo  pages,  but  every  material  fact  will  be  found 
in  the  condensed  statement  now  subjoined. 

The  preternatural  noises  at  Ep  worth  parsonage  were  first  heard 
by  Mrs  Wesley.  This  was  on  the  evening  of  a  day  when  her  son 
Samuel  had  come  home  from  Westminster  School,  and,  with  con- 
siderable sharpness,  had  quarrelled  with  his  sister  Susannah.  At 
the  time,  Mrs  Wesley  was  in  her  bedroom,  and  heard  a  clattering 
of  doors  and  windows,  and  then  several  distinct  knocks,  three  by 
three.  This,  however,  gave  her  no  anxiety ;  and,  though  ever 
after,  similar  noises  were  invariably  heard  previous  to  the  occur- 
*  Gentleman'' s  Magazine,  1788.  f  Ibid,  1785,  p.  411. 


AGE  54.]  PEETERNATUEAL  NOISES.  351 

rence  of  any  family  misfortune,  yet  Mrs  Wesley,  and,  indeed,  the 
family  as  a  whole,  seemed,  to  have  attached  no  importance  to  such 
disturbances  until  the  close  of  the  year  1716.  Then  the  noises 
became  alarminoj,  and  the  followino;  is  an  account  of  them  from 
that  period  : — • 

On  the  first  of  December  1716,  Nanny  Marshall,  the  maid-ser- 
vant, heard,  at  the  dining-room  door,  something  which  sounded 
like  the  groans  of  a  dying  man,  and  which  made  her  hair  stand  on 
end.  This  was  in  the  day-time,  and,  at  night,  Miss  Susannah  and 
Miss  Anne  Wesley,  whilst  sitting  in  the  dining-room,  heard  some- 
thing rush  on  the  outside  of  the  doors  that  opened  into  the  gar- 
den, then  three  loud  knocks,  immediately  after  other  three,  and,  in 
half  a  minute,  the  same  number  above  their  heads.  A  night  or 
two  after,  Emilia  came  down  stairs,  at  ten  o'clock,  to  wind  up  the 
timepiece  and  lock  the  doors,  as  usual,  and,  as  she  was  doing  so, 
she  heard,  under  the  staircase,  a  sound  as  if  some  bottles  there  had 
all  been  dashed  to  pieces ;  but,  when  she  looked,  all  was  safe. 
She  also  heard  a  noise,  like  a  person  throwing  down  a  vast  coal 
in  the  middle  of  the  front  kitchen  ;  but  when  she  and  Susannah 
went  to  see  what  it  was,  the  dog  was  fast  asleep,  and  nothing  out 
of  order.  Emilia  now  went  to  bed,  but  Mehetabel,  who  always 
waited  for  her  father  to  leave  his  study  and  to  retire  to  rest,  was 
sitting  on  the  lowest  step  of  the  garret  stairs,  when  there  came 
down  the  stairs  behind  her,  something  like  a  man  in  a  loose  night- 
gown trailing  after  him,  which  made  her  fly  to  Emilia  in  the  nur- 
sery. After  this,  the  man-servant,  whose  dormitory  was  the 
garret,  heard  some  one  rattling  by  his  side,  and  then  walking  up 
and  down  the  stairs,  gabbling  like  a  turkey-cock.  Noises,  also, 
were  heard  in  the  nursery,  and  all  the  other  chambers,  knocking 
first  at  the  foot  of  the  beds,  and  then  behind  them. 

At  length  the  four  young  ladies,  Emilia,  Susannah,  Mehetabel, 
and  Anne,  the  youngest  of  whom  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  and 
the  eldest  twenty-four,  told  their  father  and  mother  of  the  noises 
they  had  heard.  The  father  smiled,  and  gave  no  answer ;  but, 
appearing  to  think  it  was  a  trick  played  by  themselves,  or  by  their 
lovers,  he  afterwards  took  care  to  see  them  all  in  bed  before  he 
went  to  bed  himself.  The  mother  said  she  believed  that  the  noise 
was  made  by  rats  ;  and  sent  for  a  horn  to  frighten  them  away. 
At  last,  on  December  21st,  the  noises  were  heard  not  only  by  the 
young  ladies,  but  by  their  parents.    Nine  distinct  and  loud  knocks 


352  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l716. 

startled  them  in  the  room  adjoining  that  in  which  they  were 
sleeping.  The  rector  thought,  or  was  pleased  to  say,  it  might  be 
some  one  outside  the  house,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  his  stout 
mastiff  might  rid  them  of  the  disturber  of  their  peace.  Next  night, 
however,  he  heard  six  knocks  more  ;  ^nd  two  days  after,  at  seven 
in  the  morning,  Emilia  brought  her  mother  into  the  nursery,  where 
she  heard  noises  under  the  bed,  and  then  at  the  head  of  it.  She 
knocked,  and  it  answered  her.  She  looked  beneath  the  bed,  and 
thought  she  saw  something  run  from  thence  in  the  shape  of  a 
badger,  and  apparently  take  refuge  under  Emilia's  petticoats.  The 
next  night  but  one,  Mr  Wesley  and  his  wife  were  awaked,  shortly 
after  midnight,  by  noises  so  violent  that  it  was  in  vain  to  think  of 
sleep  while  they  continued.  They  went  into  every  chamber  ;  and, 
generally,  as  they  entered  one  room,  the  noise  was  heard  in  the 
room  behind  them.  Proceeding  to  the  lower  part  of  the  house, 
they  heard  a  clashing  among  the  bottles,  and  then  another  distinct 
sound,  as  if  a  peck  of  money  were  poured  out  at  Mrs  Wesley's 
waist,  and  ran  iinoling  down  her  nifrht-frown  to  her  feet.  Goiug^ 
through  the  hall  into  the  kitchen,  the  mastiff  came  whining  to- 
wards them,  and  seemed  almost  paralysed  with  fear.  They  still 
heard  it  rattle  and  thunder  in  every  room  above  and  behind  them 
except  the  study,  where,  up  to  the  present,  it  had  never  entered. 

On  December  26th,  a  little  before  ten  at  night,  it  began 
knocking  in  the  kitchen,  then  seemed  to  be  at  the  bed's  foot, 
then  under  the  bed,  and  at  last  at  the  head  of  it.  Mr  Wesley 
went  down  stairs  and  knocked  with  his  stick  against  the  kitchen's 
joists,  and  it  answered  him  as  often  as  he  knocked.  He  went  up 
stairs,  and  he  found  it  still  thumping,  sometimes  under  the  bed, 
and  sometimes  at  the  bed's  head.  All  the  children  were  awake 
and  trembling  with  fear.  He  asked  it  what  it  was,  and  why  it 
disturbed  innocent  children  and  did  not  come  to  him  in  his  study, 
if  it  had  anything  to  say  to  him ;  but  the  only  response  was  a 
knock  on  the  outside  of  the  house,  with  which  the  disturbance  of 
the  night  was  ended. 

The  next  night  the  noises  were  as  boisterous  as  ever  ;  and,  the 
night  after,  when  the  Rev.  Mr  Hoole,  of  Haxsey,  was  with  them, 
the  knocking  again  began  upstairs,  and  then  in  the  rooms  below. 
The  two  clergymen  went  into  the  kitchen,  and  then  the  sound  was 
in  the  room  above.  They  went  up  the  narrow  stairs,  and  then 
heard  as  it  were  the  rustling  of  a  silk  night  gown.    Quickly  it  was  in 


AGE  54.]  PRETERNATURAL  NOISES.  853 

the  nursery,  at  the  bed's  head,  knocking  three  by  three.  Mr  Wes- 
ley, observing  that  the  children,  though  asleep,  were  sweating  and 
trembling,  became  angry,  and,  pulling  out  a  pistol,  was  about  to 
fire  at  the  place  whence  the  sounds  proceeded  ;  but  Mr  Hoole 
caught  him  by  the  arm  and  said,  "Sir,  if  this  is  something  preter- 
natural you  cannot  hurt  it  by  firing  your  pistol,  but  you  may  give 
it  power  to  hurt  you."  He  then  put  aside  his  pistol,  and  went 
close  to  the  place  where  the  sounds  were  issuing  and  said,  "  Thou 
deaf  and  dumb  devil,  why  dost  thou  frighten  children  that  cannot 
answer  thee  ?  Come  to  me  in  my  study  that  am  a  man,"  In- 
stantly it  knocked  his  knock,  (the  particular  knock  he  always  used 
at  his  own  gate  and  door,)  as  if  it  would  shiver  the  board  in  pieces, 
and  away  it  went.  * 

Up  to  this  time,  there  had  been  no  disturbance  in  Mr  Wesley's 
study  ;  but  the  next  evening,  as  he  opened  the  door,  it  was  thrust 
back  with  such  violence  as  well  nigh  threw  him  down,  and  pre- 
sently there  was  a  knocking,  first  on  one  side,  then  on  the  other. 
His  daughter  Ann  was  in  the  room  adjoining  and  he  went  to  her, 
and,  as  the  noise  still  continued,  he  adjured  it  to  speak,  but  in  vain. 
He  then  said,  "  Spirits  love  darkness ;  put  out  the  candle  and  per- 
haps it  will  speak."  Anne  did  so,  and  he  repeated  his  adjuration, 
but  still  there  was  only  knocking,  and  no  articulate  sound.  He 
then  said  to  his  daughter,  "  Nancy,  two  Christians  are  an  over- 
match for  a  devil ;  go  down  stairs,  and  it  may  be,  when  I  am  left 
alone,  it  will  have  courage  enough  to  speak."  When  she  was  gone 
the  thought  occurred  to  him  that  something  might  have  happened 
to  his  son  Samuel,  and  he  said,  "  If  thou  art  the  spirit  of  my  son 
Samuel,  I  pray  knock  three  knocks,  and  no  more."  Immediately 
all  was  silence,  and  the  rest  of  the  night  passed  away  in  quietude. "f* 

Prom  this  time  until  January  24,  1717,  a  period  of  twenty- 
seven  days,  the  bouse  was  quiet ;  but  on  this  day,  in  the  morning, 
while  at  family  prayers,  the  family  heard  the  usual  knocks  at  the 
prayer  for  King  George ;  and  at  night  the  knocks  were  more  distinct, 
both  in  the  prayer  for  the  king  and  for  the  prince,  and  were  accom- 
panied with  a  thundering  thump  at  the  Amen.  Between  nine  and 
ten  o'clock,  while  Eobert  Brown  was  sitting  by  himself  at  the  back 
kitchen  fire,  something  came  out  of  the  copper  hole  like  a  rabbit, 
and  turned  five  times  swiftly  round.  Eobert  ran  after  it  with  the 
tongs,  but,  to  Eobert's  terrible  dismay,  it  vanished. 

*  Met7i.odist  Magazine,  1784,  p.  608.  t  I^id.,  p.  654. 

Z 


354!  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l717. 

•  On  the  day  after,  January  25,  Mr  Wesley  shortened  the  family 
prayers  in  the  morning,  omitting  the  confession,  the  absolution, 
and  the  prayers  for  the  king  and  prince,  and  observed  that  when- 
ever he  did  this  there  was  no  knocking ;  but  whenever  he  used  the 
name  of  King  George  it  seemed  a  signal  for  the  knocking  to  com- 
mence. This  made  Wesley  so  angry  that  he  resolved  to  say  three 
prayers  for  the  royal  family,  instead  of  two. 

Emilia  often  heard  something  like  the  quick  winding  up  of  a 
jack  at  the  corner  of  her  room.  When  Mrs  Wesley  stamped  on 
the  floor  it  answered  her  ;  and  when  little  Kezzia,  only  six  years 
old,  did  the  same,  three  loud  and  hollow  knocks  were  the  imme- 
diate response.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  man-servant  went  into 
the  dining-room,  something  like  a  badger,  without  a  head,  was 
sitting  by  the  fire,  and  ran  past  him  through  the  hall.  He  fol- 
lowed with  a  candle  and  searched,  but  nothing  could  be  found. 
On  another  occasion,  to  Mr  Wesley's  no  small  amazement,  his 
trencher  began  dancing  on  the  table  where  the  family  were  dining. 
Several  nights  the  latch  of  his  bed-room  door  was  lifted ;  and  one 
night,  when  the  latch  of  the  back  kitchen-door  was  often  lifted, 
Emilia  went  and  held  it  fast,  but  it  was  still  lifted  up  and  the  door 
pushed  violently  against  her,  though  nothing  was  to  be  seen  outside. 
Thrice  Mr  Wesley  was  pushed  by  an  invisible  power,  once  against 
the  corner  of  his  desk,  a  second  time  against  the  door  of  the  mat- 
ted chamber,  and  a  third  time  against  the  frame  of  his  study  door. 
He  often  spoke  to  it  to  tell  him  what  it  was,  but  never  heard  any 
articulate  voice,  and  only  once  or  twice  two  or  three  feeble  squeaks. 
As  a  rule,  as  soon  as  the  noises  began  the  wind  rose,  and  whistled 
loudly  round  the  house.  It  commonly  commenced  the  disturbance 
at  the  corner  of  the  nursery  ceiling,  and,  before  it  came  into  any 
room,  the  latches  were  frequently  lifted  up,  the  windows  clattered, 
and  whatever  iron  or  brass  was  about  the  chamber  rung  and  jarred 
exceedingly.  Very  often  the  soimd  seemed  to  be  in  the  air  in  the 
middle  of  a  room.  Though  it  often  seemed  to  rattle  down  the 
pewter,  to  clap  the  doors,  draw  the  curtains,  and  kick  Robert 
Brown's  shoes  about,  yet  nothing  was  moved  except  the  latches  ; 
unless  once,  when  the  nursery-door  was  thrown  open.  It  is  also 
a  remarkable  circumstance  that  the  noise  never  came  by  day  till 
Mrs  Wesley  ordered  the  blowing  of  the  horn ;  ever  after  that  it 
almost  invariably  hajjpened  that  whenever  any  member  of  the 
family  went  from  one  room  into  another,  the  latch  of  the  room 


AGE  55.]  PRETEENATUKAL  NOISES,  355 

tliey  went  to  Avas  lifted  up  before  they  touched  it.  It  also  never 
came  into  Mr  Wesley's  study  until  he  talked  to  it  so  sharply,  and 
called  it  a  deaf  and  dumb  devil.  Mrs  Wesley  desired  it  not  to 
disturb  her  from  five  to  six  o'clock  in  the  morning;  and,  from  that 
time,  no  noise  was  heard  in  her  chamber  from  five  till  she  came 
down  stairs,  nor  at  any  other  time  when  she  was  employed  in 
devotion. 

The  man-servant,  Eobert  Brown,  who  slept  in  the  garret,  was 
often  so  frightened,  that  he  ran  down  stairs,  almost  naked,  not 
daring  to  stay  alone  to  put  on  his  clothes ;  and  the  maid-servant, 
Nanny  Marshall,  seemed  more  affrighted  than  anybody  else. 
Once,  when  Mary  Wesley  was  by  herself  in  the  dining-room,  the 
door  seemed  to  open,  and  some  one  entered  in  a  night-gown  trail- 
ing upon  the  ground,  went  leisurely  around  her,  and  vanished.  A 
few  nights  after,  Mr  Wesley  ordered  her  to  light  him  to  his  study, 
and  just  as  he  unlocked  the  door,  the  latch  was  lifted  for  him. 
When  Anne  Wesley  came  into  her  chamber  in  the  day-time,  it 
commonly  walked  after  her  from  room  to  room,  and  followed  her 
from  one  side  of  the  bed  to  the  other.  When  five  or  six  of  them 
were  sitting  in  the  nursery  together,  a  cradle  seemed  to  be  violently 
rocked  in  the  room  above,  though  no  cradle  existed  there.  One 
night,  when  Anne  was  sitting  on  the  press  bed,  playing  at  cards 
with  some  of  her  sisters,  the  bed  was  lifted  up.  She  at  once 
leaped  down,  exclaiming,  "  Surely  old  Jeffrey  would  not  run  away 
with  her."  At  her  sisters'  persuasion,  she  again  sat  down,  when 
the  bed  was  again  lifted  up,  a  considerable  height,  several  times 
successively.  The  servant-maid,  after  churning,  on  one  occasion, 
took  her  butter  into  the  dairy,  and  had  no  sooner  done  so  than 
she  heard  a  knocking  on  the  shelf,  first  above  and  then  below. 
She  took  a  candle  and  made  diligent  search,  but  finding  nothing, 
threw  down  butter,  tray,  and  all,  and  ran  away  for  her  very  life. 
Robin  Brown,  one  night,  resolved  to  be  a  match  for  "  old  Jeffrey," 
and  took  the  large  household  dog  to  bed  with  him  ;  but,  de- 
spite the  dog,  the  latch  began  to  jar  as  usual,  the  turkey-cock 
to  gobble,  and  the  boots  and  shoes  to  clatter ;  until  the  dog,  as 
much  frightened  as  Robin  was,  crept  into  bed  to  him,  and  com- 
menced such  a  howling  and  barking,  that  the  whole  family  were 
alarmed.  On  another  occasion,  Robin  was  grinding  corn  in 
the  garrets,  and  happening  to  stop  a  little,  the  handle  of  the  mill 
began  to  turn  with  the  utmost  swiftness.     Robin  said,  "  Nothing 


356  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  "WESLEY.  [l717. 

vexed  him,  but  that  the  mill  was  empty.  If  corn  had  been  in  it, 
old  Jeffrey  might  have  grinded  his  heart  out  for  him ;  he  would 
never  have  disturbed  him." 

At  length,  the  family  became  so  accustomed  to  the  noises,  that 
they  scarce  regarded  them.  At  nights,  when  the  tapping  at  their 
beds  began,  the  young  ladies  would  say,  "  Jeffrey  is  coming  :  it  is 
time  to  sleep  ; "  and,  in  the  day-time,  when  the  noise  was  heard, 
little  Kezzy,  six  years  old,  would  run  up  stairs,  and  pursue  it  from 
room  to  room,  saying,  she  wished  for  no  better  fun.  Several 
gentlemen  and  clergymen  advised  Mr  Wesley  to  quit  the  house ; 
but  his  invariable  answer  was,  "  No ;  let  the  devil  flee  from  me ; 
I  will  never  flee  from  him."  * 

About  the  middle  of  February  1717,  there  seems  to  have  been 
a  cessation  of  those  unearthly  noises ;  hence  Mr  Wesley  wrote  to 
his  son  Samuel  as  follows : — 

Feb.  11, 1716-7. 
"  Deae  Sam., — As  for  the  noises,  &c.,  in  our  family,  I  thank 
God,  we  are  now  all  quiet.  There  were  some  surprising  circum- 
stances in  that  affair.  Your  mother  has  not  written  you  a  third 
part  of  it.  When  I  see  you  here,  you  shall  see  the  whole  account, 
which  I  wrote  down.  It  would  make  a  glorious  penny  book  for 
Jack  Dunton ;  but,  while  I  live,  I  am  not  ambitious  for  anything 
of  that  nature.  I  think  that  is  all,  but  blessings  from — your  lov- 
ing father,  Sam.  Wesley." 

This,  however,  was  far  from  being  the  last  of  old  Jeffrey's  tricks. 
At  the  end  of  March  following,  it  made  Mr  Wesley's  trencher 
dance  upon  the  table  ;-f-  and,  on  the  81st  of  that  month,  after  mid- 
night, it  opened  the  dining-room  door,  where  Emilia  and  the  ser- 
vant-maid were  sitting ;  then  shut  it ;  and  then  began  to  knock 
as  usual.  I  Indeed,  thirty-four  years  after  this,  Emilia,  who  was 
then  Mrs  Harper,  speaks  of  still  being  visited  by  old  Jeffrey,  when 
she  was  about  to  be  visited  by  any  new  affiiction  ;  §  and  it  is  re- 
ported that  even  as  lately  as  within  the  last  few  years,  the  then 
rector  of  Epworth  and  his  family  were  residing  in  London,  owing 
to  the  repetition  of  the  noises  first  heard  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago  in  the  world-renowned  Epworth  parsonage.|| 

*  Methodist  Macjazine,  1784,  p.  656.         t  Priestly,  p.  139.       J  Ibid.,  p.  140. 
§  See  Clarke's  Wesley  Family,  vol.  i.  p.  286.     ||  Wesleyan  Times,  March  7,  1864. 


AGE  55.]  PRETERNATURAL  NOISES.  357 

But  who  was  old  Jeffrey  ?  At  first,  Mrs  Wesley  thought  it  was 
the  spirit  of  one  of  her  three  sons,  Samuel,  John,  and  Charles,  then 
at  school  in  London  and  Westminster ;  then  she  believed  it  to  be 
the  rioting  of  rats ;  and,  finally,  she  supposed  it  betokened  the 
death  of  her  brother,  Samuel  Annesley,  at  that  time  resident  in 
India, 

In  reply  to  all  this,  it  may  be  stated,  that  the  three  young 
Wesleys  lived  for  many  a  long  year  after  this ;  it  was  impossible 
for  freakish  or  frantic  rats  to  perform  all  the  tricks  performed  by 
old  Jeff'rey ;  and,  finally,  the  death  of  Samuel  Annesley  did  not 
occur  until  about  eight  years  after  Jeffrey  began  his  disturbances. 

Samnel  Wesley,  jun.,  made  the  strictest  inquiries,  and  evidently 
beheved  it  to  be  a  spirit,  but  for  what  purpose  sent  he  was  unable 
to  conjecture.  He  writes  :  "  As  to  iny  particular  opinion  con- 
cerning the  events  foreboded  by  these  noises,  I  cannot,  I  must 
confess,  form  any.  I  think,  since  it  was  not  permitted  to  speak, 
all  guesses  must  be  vain."  * 

Some  have  suspected,  that  it  might  be  all  a  trick  performed  by 
the  servants  of  the  family ;  but  then  the  noises  were  often  heard 
by  the  family  when  all  the  servants  were  present  with  them. 

Miss  Susannah  Wesley,  and  her  sisters  Emilia,  Mary,  Mehe- 
tabel,  and  Anne,  seem  to  have  had  no  doubt  that  the  whole  affair 
was  supernatural ;  and  the  youngest  of  these  five  sisters  was  now 
fourteen  years  of  age,  and  therefore  able  to  form  something  like  a 
correct  opinion. 

The  Eev.  Mr  Hoole  appears  to  have  thought  the  same,  for  he 
prevented  Mr  Wesley  firing  his  pistol  at  the  spirit,  lest  the  spirit 
should  thereby  obtain  power  to  retaliate  and  injure  him. 

John  Wesley  believed  that  it  was  a  messenger  of  Satan  sent  to 
buffet  his  father,  for  the  rash  vow  he  made,  fifteen  years  before, 
and  for  his  leaving  his  wife  for  a  twelvemonth,  because  she  re- 
fused to  pray  for  King  William.i-  We  should  not  quarrel  with 
Mr  Wesley  for  thinking  that  old  Jeffrey  was  a  messenger  of  Satan  ; 
but  the  fact  he  mentions,  on  account  of  which  the  messenger  was 
sent,  is  to  a  great  extent  fiction,  as  we  have  already  shown ;  and, 
even  were  it  true,  to  assign  it  as  a  reason  for  the  coming  of  old 
Jeff'rey,  is  simply  silly  and  absurd. 

Dr  Priestley  thinks  the  whole  affair  was  a  trick  of  the  servants^ 
assisted  by  some  of  their  neighbours,  for  the  purpose  of  puzzling 
*  Wesley  Family.  t  Methodist  Magazine,  1784,  p.  606. 


S58  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l717. 

the  fiimily,  and  amusing  themselves;*  but  how  is  such  a  theory 
to  be  reconciled  with  the  clashing  of  bottles  beneath  the  stairs,  the 
repeated  appearances  of  the  badger  without  a  head,  the  sound  of 
the  peck  of  money  poured  from  Mrs  Wesley's  waist,  the  noises 
occurring  not  only  at  night  but  also  in  the  day,  the  invariable 
thumping  when  Mr  Wesley  prayed  for  the  king  and  prince,  the 
dancing  of  Mr  Wesley's  trencher,  his  being  thrice  violently  pushed 
by  an  unseen  power,  the  fact  that  the  sound  frequently  seemed  to 
be  in  the  air  in  the  middle  of  a  room,  and  that  however  much  the 
Wesleys  tried  to  produce  an  imitation  of  the  sound,  none  of  them 
could  succeed  in  doing  so.  These  are  difficulties,  which  those  who 
adopt  Dr  Priestley's  opinion  are  bound  satisfactorily  to  explain. 

The  Eev,  W.  B.  Stonehouse,  author  of  "  The  History  and  Topo- 
graphy of  the  Isle  of  Axholme,"  accounts  for  the  noises  thus  :  he 
writes  : — "  There  is  a  large  garret,  which  extends  over  the  ceilings 
of  all  the  rooms  below,  and  nothing  can  be  more  probable  than 
that  some  piece  of  machinery  was  fixed  there,  by  which  all  the 
noises  were  effected,  and  which  required  to  be  wound  up  before  the 
performances  began."  This  is  childish.  Who  in  Epworth,  or  the 
neighbourhood,  was  able  either  to  devise  or  to  construct  such 
machinery  ?  How  was  it  introduced  ?  Who  set  it  up  ?  Was  it 
invisible  ?  Or  is  it  likely  that  Samuel  Wesley  visited  and  exa- 
mined all  the  rooms  in  the  house  excepting  this  ? 

Dr  Adam  Clarke  believed  the  thing  to  be  supernatural;  and 
suggests  that  it  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  following  story, 
which  was  related  by  a  respectable  person  to  himself.  One  night, 
after  the  family  had  gone  to  bed,  while  the  maid-servant  was 
finishing  her  work  in  the  back-kitchen,  she  was  startled  by  a  noise, 
looked  up,  and  saw  a  man  working  himself  through  a  trough, 
which  communicated  between  the  sink-stone  within  and  a  cistern 
without.  Astonished  and  terrified,  she  seized  the  cleaver,  which 
lay  on  the  sink-stone,  and  struck  him  on  the  head  ;  after  which 
she  uttered  an  awful  shriek,  and  fell  senseless  on  the  floor.  Mr 
Wesley  heard  the  noise,  and  supposing  that  the  house  was  beset 
by  robbers,  started  out  of  bed,  caught  up  the  fire-irons  of  his  study, 
and  began  to  throw  them  with  violence  on  the  stairs,  calling  out, 
Tom !  Jack !  Harry !  as  loud  as  he  could  bawl,  designing,  by 
this  means,  to  scare  away  the  thieves.  Who  the  man  was  who 
received  the  death-blow  from  the  cleaver,  or  who  were  his  accom- 
*  Priestley's  preface  to  Original  Letters  by  John  Wesley,  &c.,  p.  \i. 


AGE  55.]  PEETEENATUEAL  NOISES.  359 

plices,  was  never  known ;  but  the  man  was  evidently  carried  off, 
as  footsteps  and  marks  of  blood  were  traced  to  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  house,  but  not  far  enough  to  find  out  who  the 
villains  were,  nor  whence  they  came,  Dr  A.  Clarke  fails  to  tell 
us  when  this  tragical  event  occurred. 

Southey  says,  that  he  is  "  as  deeply  and  fully  persuaded  as  John 
Wesley  was,  that  the  spirits  of  the  departed  are  sometimes  per- 
mitted to  manifest  themselves;"  though  he  does  "not  believe  in 
witchcraft,  and  very  greatly  doubts  the  reality  of  demoniacal 
possession."*  He  also  asserts  that  many  of  the  circumstances 
connected  with  the  disturbances  at  Epworth  i^arsonage  cannot  be 
explained  by  Dr  Priestley's  supposition,  that  the  whole  thing  was  a 
trick  of  the  servants  and  neighbours  ;  neither  "  can  they  be  ex- 
plained by  any  legerdemain,  nor  by  ventriloquism,  nor  by  any 
secret  of  acoustics."  And,  then,  having  thus  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  noises  were  supernatural,  he  endeavours  to  account 
for  such  occurrences  by  saying :  "  It  would  be  end  sufficient,  if 
sometimes  one  of  those  unhappy  persons  who,  looking  through  the 
dim  glass  of  infidelity,  see  nothing  beyond  this  life,  should,  from 
the  well-established  truth  of  one  such  story,  be  led  to  a  conclusion 
that  there  are  more  things  in  heaven  and  earth  than  are  dreamt 
of  in  their  philosophy." -f- 

And,  now,  though  it  may  seem  presumption  for  one  so  insig- 
nificant as  the  writer  to  express  an  opinion,  after  stating  the 
opinions  of  men  like  those  already  quoted,  yet,  at  the  risk  of  in- 
curring such  opprobrium,  he  ventures  to  assert  he  has  thoroughly 
sifted  the  whole  history,  and  has  read  all  that  has  been  written 
concerning  it;  and  that,  though  he  began  the  examination  with 
the  strongest  prejudice  against  the  theory  that  the  noises  were 
supernatural,  yet,  by  the  force  of  evidence,  which  he  has  been 
unable  to  resist,  he  has  been  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
thing  was  not  a  trick,  but  that  the  noises  and  other  circumstances 
were  occasioned  by  the  direct  and  immediate  agency  of  some 
unseen  spirit. 

If  asked  to  express  an  opinion  whether  the  spirit  was  good  or 
bad,  the  writer  would  say,  the  latter.  "  About  a  year  since,"  says 
Emilia  Wesley,  "  there  was  a  disturbance  at  a  town  near  us  that 
was  undoubtedly  occasioned  by  witches;  and,  if  so  near,  why 

*  Wilberforce's  Correspoyidcnce,  vol.  ii.  p.  S&O. 
t  Southey's  Life  of  Wesley. 


3G0  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l717. 

may  tliey  not  reacli  us  ?  Then,  my  father  had,  for  several  Sun- 
days before  old  Jeffrey  came,  preached  warmly  against  consultinn; 
those  that  are  called  cunning  men,  which  our  people  are  given  to  ; 
and  it  had  a  particular  spite  at  my  father."* 

If  asked  again,  What  good  end  was  to  be  answered  by  permit- 
ting such  supernatural  disturbances  ?  the  writer  answers,  that  hi& 
own  opinion  thoroughly  coincides  with  Southey's,  already  given. 
It  is  worse  than  absurd  to  suppose  that  God  permits  such  occur- 
rences to  happen  without  some  great  purpose  to  be  accomplished  ; 
and,  for  this  reason,  such  occurrences  are  extremely  rare.  Mrs 
AVesley  was  of  this  opinion,  as  the  following  extract,  from  an  un- 
published letter  to  her  son  John,  will  show  : — 

"  Wroote,  Nov.  1724. 
"  Dear  Jack, — The  story  of  Mr  B,  has  afforded  me  many 
curious  speculations.  I  do  not  doubt  the  fact,  but  cannot  receive 
it  without  reason  why  those  apparitions  should  come  to  us.  If 
they  were  permitted  to  speak  to  us,  and  we  had  strength  to  bear 
such  converse ;  if  they  had  commission  to  inform  us  of  anything 
relating  to  their  invisible  world,  that  would  be  of  any  use  to  us  in 
this ;  if  they  could  instruct  us  how  to  avoid  any  danger,  or  put 
us  in  a  way  of  being  wiser  or  better — there  w^ould  be  sense  in  it ; 
but  to  appear  for  no  end  that  we  know  of,  unless  to  frighten 
people  almost  out  of  their  wits,  seems  altogether  unreasonable." 

No  doubt  of  it ;  and,  for  that  reason,  there  was  unquestionably 
a  great  end  to  be  answered  by  the  supernatural  noises  at  Ep worth 
parsonage. 

The  Wesley  family  were  foreordained  to  exercise  upon  succeed- 
ing generations,  and  upon  mankind  at  large,  an  influence,  the 
effects  of  which  are  without  a  parallel ;  and,  to  qualify  them  for 
such  a  work,  it  is  not  surprising  that  a  more  than  ordinary  agency 
should  have  been  employed.  No  man  can  really  be  in  earnest  in 
converting  sinners  unless  he  has,  not  merely  opinions  respecting 
an  unseen  world,  but  a  deep  and  felt  conviction  that  such  a  world 
exists.  The  minister,  without  such  a  deep  and  vivid  conviction, 
may  perform  ministerial  functions,  but  he  has  no  anxiety  about 
real  ministerial  success.  On  the  other  hand,  let  the  man  feel,  in 
his  heart  and  conscience,  that  there  is  a  heaven,  and  that  there  is 

*  Priestley,  p.  138. 


AGE  55.]  PKETEENATUKAL  NOISES.  361 

a  bell,  and  it  becomes  impossible  for  such  a  man  to  be  indifferent 
res^Decting  the  souls  of  his  fellow-men.  He  knows  that  every  un- 
converted sinner  whom  he  meets  is  exposed  to  danger  infinitely 
more  fearful  than  any  mere  earthly  danger  the  mind  can  con- 
template ;  and  hence  you  find  in  him,  not  merely  the  polite  re- 
proof, the  gentle  warning,  the  Scripture  exposition,  or  the  per- 
functory discharge  of  some  other  ministerial  duty  ;  but  you  also 
find  intense  earnestness,  which  is  sometimes  considered  fanaticism, 
and  almost  insanity ;  and  you  likewise  very  often  find  efforts 
used,  and  expediences  employed,  in  converting  men  which  shock 
the  refined  tastes  and  delicate  sensibilities  of  many  who  are  more 
politely  than  earnestly  religious  ;  and  which  from  men  of  another 
class — the  avowedly  profane  and  disbelieving — provoke  contempt 
and  persecution.  Yes  ;  and  the  deeper,  and  more  living  and  in- 
fluential, becomes  the  man's  conviction  of  the  existence  of  heaven, 
of  hell,  of  angels,  of  devils,  and  of  the  other  great  certainties 
of  the  world  to  come — the  more  impellent  becomes  his  earnest- 
ness, and  the  more  excited  and  self-sacrificing  are  his  labours  to 
turn  men  from  sin  to  holiness,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan 
unto  God. 

Let  it  be  granted  that  this  is  true,  and  then  there  is  no  diffi- 
culty in  perceiving  that  it  was  important,  in  the  highest  degree, 
that  a  man  like  John  Wesley  should  have  convictions  and  feelings 
in  reference  to  the  unseen  world  far  stronger  and  deeper  than 
those  which  men,  and  even  ministers,  ordinarily  have ;  and  that 
there  is  no  need  to  wonder  at  the  strange,  the  mysterious,  the  super- 
natural events  that  hapjjened  in  his  father's  house;  inasmuch  as 
the  direct  tendency  of  these  events  was  to  create,  or  strengthen 
and  intensify,  the  convictions  and  feelings  already  mentioned. 

That  such  an  eff'ect  was  produced  we  have  undoubted  evidence. 
Emilia  Wesley,  writing  to  her  brother  Samuel  at  the  time,  says : 
"  I  am  so  far  from  being  superstitious,  that  I  was  too  much  in- 
clined to  infidelity  :  and  I  therefore  heartily  rejoice  at  having  such 
an  opportunity  of  convincing  myself,  past  doubt  or  scruple,  of  the 
existence  of  some  beings  besides  those  we  see."*  This  is  remark- 
able language  for  a  young,  educated  lady,  twenty-four  years  of 
age,  to  use  in  reference  to  ghosts.  So  far  from  shuddering  at  the 
thought  of  having  heard  and  seen  a  ghost,  she  heartily  rejoices, 
because  the  unusual  and  strange  occurrence  had  strengthened  her 

*  Priestley's  Letters,  p.  135. 


362  TILE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l717. 

Scriptural  belief,  and  convinced  her,  beyond  a  doubt,  of  an  unseen, 
vast,  and  eternal  world, 

John  Wesley  was  at  the  Charter-House  School,  London,  and 
therefore  Avas  not  an  eye  and  an  ear  witness  of  the  disturbances 
in  his  father's  parsonage  ;  but,  of  course,  he  heard  of  them,  and 
that  they  produced  the  same  effect  in  him  which  they  produced  in 
his  sister  Emilia,  is  a  fact  which  no  one  can  reasonably  call  in 
question.  If  there  be  one  feature  more  striking  than  another  in 
John  Wesley's  religious  character,  it  is  his  deep-rooted,  intense, 
animated,  powerful,  impelling  conviction  of  the  dread  realities  of 
an  unseen  world.  Without  this,  Wesley  never  would  and  never 
could  have  braved  so  much  opprobrium,  endured  so  much  suffer- 
ing, and  undergone  so  much  toil  for  the  sole  and  single  purpose 
of  saving  souls.  This  great  conviction  took  possession  of  the  man, 
he  loved  it,  he  cherished  it,  he  tried  to  impress  it  upon  all  his 
helpers  and  upon  all  his  people  ;  and  the  result  of  the  whole  was 
the  calling  into  action  an  agency,  which,  for  earnestness  of  feeling, 
oneness  of  aim,  enthusiastic  faith,  pleading  prayer,  unwearied 
labour,  martyr  courage,  and  spiritual  success,  will  bear  compari- 
son with  any  agency,  which,  in  any  age,  it  has  pleased  the  great 
Head  of  the  Christian  Church  to  call  and  use,  in  saving  sinners 
from  the  agonies  of  bottomless  perdition. 

"  With  my  latest  breath,"  says  John  Wesley,  "  will  I  bear  testi- 
mony against  giving  up  to  infidels  one  great  proof  of  the  invisible 
world,  I  mean  that  of  witchcraft  and  apparitions,  confirmed  by 
the  testimony  of  all  ages.*  The  English  in  general,  and  indeed 
most  of  the  men  of  learning  in  Europe,  have  given  up  all  account 
of  witches  and  apparitions  as  mere  old  wives'  fables.  I  am  sorry 
for  it;  and  I  willingly  take  this  opportunity  of  entering  my 
solemn  protest  against  this  violent  compliment,  which  so  many 
that  believe  the  Bible  pay  to  those  who  do  not  believe  it.  I  owe 
them  no  such  service.  I  take  knowledge,  these  are  at  the  bottom 
of  the  outcry  which  has  been  raised,  and  with  such  insolence 
spread  throughout  the  nation,  in  direct  opposition  not  only  to  the 
Bible,  but  to  the  suffrage  of  the  wisest  and  best  of  men  in  all  ages 
and  nations.  They  well  know  (whether  Christians  know  it  or  not) 
that  the  giving  up  of  witchcraft  is,  in  effect,  giving  up  the  Bible ; 
and  they  know  on  the  other  hand,  that,  if  but  one  account  of  the 
intercourse  of  men  with  separate  spirits  be  admitted,  their  whole 

*  Wesley's  Works,  vol,  xiv.  p.  276. 


AGE  55.]  PEETEKNATUEAL  NOISES.  863 

castle  in  the  air — Deism,  Atheism,  Materialism — falls  to  the 
ground.  I  know  no  reason,  therefore,  why  we  should  suffer  even 
this  weapon  to  be  wrested  out  of  our  hands.  It  is  true  that  there 
are  numerous  arguments  besides  this  which  abundantly  confute 
their  vain  imaginations,  but  we  need  not  be  hooted  out  of  one  ; 
neither  reason  nor  religion  requires  this.  One  of  the  capital  ob- 
jections which  I  have  known  urged  over  and  over  is,  '  Did  you 
ever  see  an  apparition  yourself  ?'  No,  nor  did  I  ever  see  a  murder  ; 
yet  I  believe  there  is  such  a  thing.  The  testimony  of  unexcep- 
tionable witnesses  fully  convinces  me  both  of  the  one  and  the 
other."  * 

This  was  the  opinion,  not  of  a  young  enthusiast,  but  of  a  scholar, 
a  Christian,  a  minister,  and  an  author,  now  in  the  sixty-sixth  year 
of  his  age.  John  Wesley  has  been  censured  for  his  credulity ; 
but  did  he  merit  this  ?  I  doubt  it.  South ey  says  that  "  he  in- 
validated his  own  authority  by  listening  to  the  most  absurd  tales 
with  implicit  credulity,  and  recording  them  as  authenticated 
facts,  "t 

In  reply,  I  venture  to  assert  that  Wesley  never  contended  for 
anything  but  what  Southey  himself  admits  in  the  passage  from 
his  writings,  already  quoted — viz.,  that  "  the  spirits  of  the  de- 
parted are  sometimes  permitted  to  manifest  themselves,"  and  that 
the  reason  why  such  apparitions  are  permitted  or  ordered,  is  to 
convince  "  those  unhappy  persons,  who  looking  through  the  dim 
glass  of  infidelity,  see  nothing  beyond  this  life,  that  there  are  more 
things  in  heaven  and  earth  than  are  dreamt  of  in  their  philosophy  V 
This  admits  all  that  John  Wesley  argued  for.  Besides,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind,  that  though  John  Wesley  inserts  not  a  few  "  strange 
accounts  "  of  apparitions,  &c.,  in  his  journals  and  in  his  magazine, 
it  is  not  true  that  he  says  he  believed  them  all.  He  simply  relates 
some  as  they  had  been  related  to  himself,  and  leaves  the  reader  to 
form  his  own  opinion.  In  reference  to  others,  he  boldly  expresses 
a  firm  belief  in  their  truthfulness,  because  he  had  received  them 
on  testimony  the  most  credible ;  and  this,  be  it  observed,  is 
exactly  what  Mr  Southey  does  in  reference  to  the  "  strange 
accounts  "  of  the  disturbances  in  the  Epworth  Parsonage  ;  so  that 
if  Wesley,  the  Eeformer,  deserves  censure  for  credulity,  Southey, 
the  poet-laureate,  deserves  just  the  same. 

The  reader  will  excuse  what,  perhaps,  is  deemed  a  lengthened 
*  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  108.  f  Southey's  Life  of  Wesley. 


3G4  THE  LTFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l717. 

digression  ;  but  it  was  impossible,  in  a  life  of  Samuel  Wesley, 
sen.,  to  pass  over  the  strange  noises  in  his  house,  and  having 
related  them,  it  would  have  been  cowardly  in  the  biographer  to 
have  shrunk  from  expressing  an  opinion  concerning  them.  My 
carefully-formed  opinion  is,  that  the  noises  were  really  super- 
natural, and  that  the  end  to  be  answered  was  specially  to  qualify 
certain  members  of  the  Wesley  family  for  the  special  work  for 
which  God  had  fore-ordained  them. 

This  opinion  may  seem  wild  and  extravagant,  but  it  has  not 
been  formed  from  prejudice  or  without  research.  The  examination 
was  commenced  with  a  persuasion  that  it  would  be  possible  to 
explain  all  the  accounts  of  the  Epworth  noises  on  Priestley's  sup- 
position that  the  whole  afftiir  was  a  clever  trick,  performed  by  Wes- 
ley's servants,  or  Wesley's  enemies,  or  by  both  united  ;  and,  indeed, 
there  was  a  secret  wish  in  the  writer's  heart  that  it  might  be  so. 
With  Southey,  however,  and  others,  he  found  this  to  be  impossible, 
and  hence  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  believe  that  the  noises 
were  supernatural,  and  to  suggest  a  reason  for  their  occurrence. 
This  has  been  done  as  fairly  and  as  honestly  as  the  writer  has  had 
ability  to  do  it ;  and  now,  expecting  to  be  ridiculed,  he  entreats 
the  reader  not  to  skim  the  matter  hastily,  but  to  sift  it  for  him- 
self, remembering  John  Wesley's  words  : — "  If  but  one  account  of 
the  intercourse  of  men  with  spirits  be  admitted,  the  whole  castle 
in  the  air — Deism,  Atheism,  and  Materialism — falls  to  the  ground" 
at  once. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  ninety-nine  ghost  stories  out  of  a 
hundred  are  fanatical  fabrications,  but  to  say  that  such  things  as 
witchcraft  and  apparitions  do  not  exist  is,  to  use  the  words  of  Dr 
Anthony  Horneck,  to  play  more  hocus-pocus  tricks  with  the 
Holy  Scriptures  than,  as  it  is  alleged,  the  witch  of  Endor  did  in 
raising  the  prophet  Samuel.  In  former  times  men  had  a  propen- 
sity to  believe  too  much,  at  present  the  propensity  is  to  believe 
too  little.  To  philosophic  unbelievers,  witchcraft  and  apparitions 
may  seem  impossible  and  absurd,  but  the  Bible  establishes  the 
fact  that  such  things  have  existed  ;  and  never  gives  the  least  inti- 
mation that  they  are  not  again  to  be  permitted.  ^ 


CHAPTER  XVIIL 

THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEARS — 1714-1735, 

Samuel  Wesley  was  born  two  years  after  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II.  He  lived  throughout  the  reigns  of  Charles,  of  James 
II.,  of  William  III.,  and  Queen  Mary,  of  Queen  Anne,  and  of 
George  I,  and  during  the  first  eight  years  of  the  reign  of  George 
II.  This  covers  a  period  of  English  history  which,  in  thrilling  in- 
terest and  importance,  is  not  surpassed  by  any  other  period  within 
the  compass  of  English  annals. 

Queen  Anne  died  in  the  year  1714,  and  her  death  led  to  the 
immediate  accession  of  George,  Electoral  Prince  of  Hanover,  the 
great-grandson  of  James  I,  After  reigning  thirteen  years,  he  was 
succeeded,  in  1727,  by  his  son,  George  II. 

The  last  twenty  years  of  Mr  Wesley's  life  were  full  of  great 
events.  Lord  Bolingbroke,  Lord  Oxford,  and  the  Duke  of  Or- 
mond,  were  all  impeached  of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanours ; 
Oxford  was  committed  to  the  Tower ;  Bolingbroke  and  Ormond 
escaped  to  France,  and  there  intrigued  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Stuarts.  The  Earl  of  Mar  erected  the  standard  of  James,  the  Pre- 
tender, son  of  James  II.,  at  Braemar,  in  Scotland,  and  the  three 
Earls  of  Hume,  Wigtown,  and  Kinnoul,  Lord  Deskford,  and 
others,  were  arrested  and  laid  fast  in  Edinburgh  Castle.  Mr  Eor- 
ster  and  the  Earl  of  Derwentwater  raised  an  insurrection  in  Nor- 
thumberland, and  proclaimed  the  Pretender,  at  Warkworth,  with 
sound  of  trumpet.  The  insurgents  marched  to  Preston,  in  Lanca- 
shire, where  they  relinquished  their  arms,  and  Forster,  Derwent- 
water, and  many  other  persons  of  distinction,  were  taken  prisoners, 
ffhe  gaols  of  the  north  were  filled  with  non-juring  Protestants, 
High  Church  divines.  Popish  priests  and  monks,  Jacobite  squires. 
Highland  chiefs,  and  Lowland  lairds.  Not  a  few  of  these  were 
shot  in  heaps,  and  the  rest,  above  five  hundred,  were  left  to  starve 


8G6  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l717. 

of  hunger  and  of  cold.  Meanwhile,  the  Pretender  himself  landed 
at  Peterhead,  made  his  public  entry  into  Dundee,  held  a  council 
at  Perth,  and  ordered  the  burning  of  all  the  towns,  villages,  corn, 
and  forage  between  Perth  and  Stirling, — an  order  which  was  too 
terribly  carried  into  execution,  the  poor  inhabitants,  women  and 
children,  the  aged  and  the  infirm,  being  exposed  to  the  extremi- 
ties of  the  season  in  one  of  the  coldest  winters  that  had  been 
known  for  many  generations.  Numbers  of  the  poor  sufferers 
jierished  of  cold  and  hunger,  and  mothers,  with  their  infants  at 
the  breast,  were  found  dead  among  drifts  of  snow.  The  Pretender 
ultimately  made  a  cowardly  escape  to  Prance,  and  the  Earl  of 
Derwentwater,  and  many  others,  were  executed  for  high  treason. 

In  the  meantime,  George  I.  quarrelled  with  his  son,  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  about  the  christening  of  a  baby,  upon  which  his  Royal 
Highness,  being  arrested  and  ordered  to  quit  St  James's  Palace, 
fixed  his  residence  at  Leicester  House,  which  became  the  resort  of 
the  disaffected  of  all  classes,  and  the  centre  of  an  increasing  tur- 
moil and  intrigue. 

The  South  Sea  Company  Bill  was  passed  by  Parliament,  and 
the  whole  nation  became  intoxicated  with  percentages,  dividends, 
and  transfers.  The  stock  suddenly  rose  from  130  to  above  1000 
per  cent.  Bubble  companies  sprang  up  round  the  mighty  original 
like  mushrooms  round  a  rotten  tree,  and  prospectuses  were  issued 
for  making  salt  water  fresh,  for  extracting  silver  out  of  lead,  for 
importing  asses  from  Spain  to  improve  the  breed  of  mules,  for 
fatting  hogs,  for  a  wheel  for  perpetual  motion,  and  for  a  thousand 
other  things  besides.  'Change  Alley  was  crammed  from  morning 
till  night  with  dukes,  lords,  country  squires,  parsons.  Dissenting 
ministers,  brokers,  and  jobbers,  and  men  of  every  possible  colour 
and  description.  Even  the  Prince  of  Wales  became  a  governor  of 
a  Welsh  Copper  Company,  and  made  a  gambling  profit  by  the 
illegal  transaction  of  not  less  than  £40,000.  The  bubbles  soon 
burst.  The  South  Sea  stock,  which  sold  in  August  at  ]  000,  in 
September  sunk  below  300,  and  in  November  fell  down  to  135, 
Terrible  excitement  followed ;  disgraceful  facts  were  published, 
and  thousands  of  persons  beggared.  One  of  the  political  re- 
sults was  a  change  of  government.  Sunderland  had  to  resign  the 
premiership,  and  Robert  Walpole,  Earl  of  Oxford,  the  high  Tory, 
and  one  of  the  friends  of  Sacheverell,  became  prime  minister,  and, 
despite  incessant   attacks   from   political   enemies   of  the   most 


AGE  55.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEARS.  867 

splendid  talents,  retained  the  high  office  for  two  and  twenty 
years. 

About  the  same  time,  the  Polish  wife  of  the  Pretender  gave 
birth  to  a  son  at  Rome,  in  the  presence  of  seven  cardinals.  The 
child,  at  a  most  royal  christening,  received  the  name  of  Charles 
Edward,  and  the  event  was  proclaimed  by  the  Jacobites  in  all 
parts  of  the  United  Kingdom.  New  plots  against  King  George, 
and  in  favoi^r  of  the  Pretender  and  his  infant  child,  were  con- 
cocted, Bishop  Atterbury  being  the  chief  of  the  intriguers.  Atter- 
bury  and  his  friends  engaged  to  get  possession  of  the  Tower,  the 
Bank,  and  the  Exchequer,  and  to  proclaim  King  James  III., 
simultaneously,  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  The  scheme  ex- 
ploded, and  Lord  North,  Lord  Orrery,  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 
were  arrested.  Atterbury  was  brought  before  the  Privy  Council,  and 
was  committed  to  the  Tower.  The  High  Church  party  cried  aloud 
against  the  sacrilegious  arrest  of  a  bishop.  The  clergy  in  London 
and  Westminster  offered  public  prayer  for  him.  Alexander  Pope, 
his  bosom  friend,  was  among  Atterbury's  witnesses.  The  bishop 
was  deprived  of  his  bishopric,  and  banished  from  his  country.  He 
at  once  threw  himself  into  the  service  of  the  Pretender,  and  be- 
came his  confidential  agent,  first  at  Brussels,  and  afterwards  at 
Paris.     He  died  in  exile  in  1731. 

George  I.  died  of  apoplexy,  in  1727,  whilst  travelling  with  one 
of  his  mistresses,  the  Duchess  of  Kendal,  to  Hanover.  At  the 
time,  the  little,  beggared,  and  vagabond  court  of  the  Pretender  was 
distracted  with  all  kinds  of  intrigues,  jealousies,  and  animosities. 
Atterbury  continued  to  cabal  with  priests,  monks,  and  mistresses. 
James  wished  to  make  one  more  effort  to  obtain  the  throne  of  his 
fathers,  but  Atterbury  could  afford  him  no  encouragement,  and 
the  scheme  was  dropped  until  it  was  revived  by  his  son,  Charles 
Edward,  in  1745. 

The  principal  ecclesiastical  events  which  occurred  durino-  the 
decline  of  Mr  Wesley's  life,  were  the  censure  pronounced  by  the 
Lower  House  of  Convocation,  in  1714,.  upon  Dr  Samuel  Clark's 
famous  book,  entitled,  "  The  Scripture  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity ;" 
and  the  bitter  and  long-continued  controversy  arising  out  of  Bishop 
Hoadley's  "Preservative  against  the  Principles  and  Practices  of 
the  Nonjurors,"  in  the  course  of  which  Sherlock,  Potter,  and 
Hare  took  a  prominent  position,  and  not  fewer  than  about 
seventy  different  publications  were  produced. 


SG8  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l717. 

The  social,  moral,  and  religious  condition  of  the  country  was 
still  far  from  satisfactory.  Gentlemen  wore  tie-wigs,  and,  instead 
of  swords,  carried  large  oak  sticks,  with  great  heads  and  ugly  faces 
carved  thereon  :  while  ladies,  when  walking  out  of  doors,  wore 
masks,  hooped  petticoats,  and  scarlet  cloaks.  Places  of  political 
resort,  called  mug-houses,  were  established  in  all  parts  of  London, 
where  citizens  and  tradesmen  attacked  the  Tories  with  such  bit- 
terness, under  the  double  inspiration  of  ale  and  patriotism,  that  at 
length  the  mug-houses  had  to  be  suppressed  by  Act  of  Parliament. 
Royal  mistresses  were  maintained  at  court,  as  a  state  appendage, 
and  thereby  public  immorality  was  kept  in  countenance.  The 
mercantile  classes  grew  in  wealth,  and  all  who  were  of  any  re- 
spectability had  the  title  of  esquire  appended  to  their  names,  so 
that  Steele  complains  that  England  had  now  become  a  nation  of 
esquires.  The  streets  of  London  were  still,  for  the  most  part,  un- 
paved,  and  the  kennels  on  both  sides  were  usually  choked  up  with 
all  sorts  of  garbage.  Pickpockets  were  numerous,  and  purses^ 
snuff-boxes,  and  watches  disappeared  with  a  facility  incomprehen- 
sible to  the  owners.  The  metropolis  could  boast  of  not  more  than 
a  thousand  lamps,  which  were  kept  burning  only  till  midnight, 
and  that  for  only  one-half  of  the  year.  Prize  fights  were  frequent, 
the  gladiators,  who  mangled  themselves  with  swords  and  daggers 
for  the  amusement  of  the  crowd,  subsisting  upon  the  subscription 
purses  and  the  admittance  fee&.  In  the  country,  the  monotonous 
toils  of  the  peasantry  were  enlivened  chiefly  by  wakes  and  fairs, 
thronged  with  puppet  shows,  pedlars'  stalls^  raffling  tables,  and 
drinking  booths.  Among  the  favourite  competitions  at  fairs,  were 
grinning  matches,  in  which  the  candidates  grinned  most  hideously 
through  a  horse's  collar  ;  and  trials  in  whistling,  where  the  person 
who  could  whistle  through  a  whole  tune  without  being  put  out  by 
the  drolleries  of  a  merry- Andrew  that  were  played  off  before  him, 
was  the  victor.  At  Chris-tmas,  trials  of  yawning  for  a  Cheshire 
cheese  took  place  at  midnight,  and  he  who  gave  the  widest  and 
most  natural  yawn,  so  as  to  set  the  whole  company  agape  in 
sympathy,  carried  off  the  cheese  in  triumph.  Young  damsels, 
anxious  to  know  something  of  their  future  husbands,  were  di- 
rected to  run  until  they  were  out  of  breath,  as  soon  as  they  heard 
the  first  notes  of  the  cuckoo,  after  which,  on  pulling  off  their  shoes, 
they  would  find  in  them  a  hair  of  the  same  colour  as  that  of  their 
future  mates.     On  May-day,  a  girl  had  only  to  bring  home  a  snail, 


AGE    5.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEAKS.  8G9 

and  lay  it  upon  the  ashes  of  the  hearth,  and,  in  crawling  about, 
the  reptile  would  mark  the  initial  letter  of  her  true  love's  name. 
It  is  true,  that  the  belief  in  antique  rites  like  these  was  fast  de- 
parting, but  still  such  spells  were  practised  in  many  a  peasant's 
hut  and  farmer's  home  long  after  Mr  Wesley's  death. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  George  I.  the  wages  of  a  farm 
bailiff  were  not  above  £6  a  year ;  and  af  other  farm-servants,  from  £2 
10s.  to  £5.  The  wages  of  female  servants  were  from  thirty  to  fifty 
shillings  yearly.  Masons,  carpenters,  and  plumbers  received  a  shil- 
ling a  day  without  meat,  or  sixpence  a  day  with  it.  Wheat  sold 
for  about  five  shillings  a  bushel,  but  the  great  bulk  of  the  people 
were  too  poor  to  purchase  it.  Even  families  that  were  reputed  rich 
used  not  more  than  a  peck  of  wheat  a  year,  and  that  was  used  at 
Christmas.  Bread  loaves  and  pie  crusts  were  made  of  barley-meal, 
and  puddings  and  dumplings,  made  of  oatmeal  and  suet,  were  a 
common  dish  at  rural  entertainments.  The  price  of  beef  and  mutton 
was  about  2^d.  per  pound,  of  butter,  about  5d.,  and  of  Cheshire 
cheese,  about  3d.* 

The  period  which  we  are  now  sketching  had  a  fair  average  of 
men  of  genius  and  learning.  Wake  was  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
Kennett,  an  intense  student,  presided  over  the  diocese  of  Peter- 
borough. Edmund  Gibson,  a  man  of  great  natural  abilities,  filled 
the  see  of  London.  John  Potter,  the  son  of  a  Yorkshire  linen- 
draper,  worked  his  way  up  to  the  primacy.  Hoadley,  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  was  described  as-  the  greatest  Dissenter  that  ever  wore 
a  mitre.  William  Sherlock  was  writing  his  celebrated  "  Trial 
of  the  Witnesses  of  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus."  Daniel  Water- 
land  was  defending  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  against  the  attacks 
of  Samuel  Clarke,  and  the  truth  of  revealed  religion  against  Tindal, 
the  infidel.  Bishop  Butler  was  composing  his  "  Analogy  of  Pteli- 
gion."  Warburton  was  equiping  himself  for  a  diocese,  and  for  the 
writing  of  his  "  Divine  Legation."  Dean  Prideaux  was  composing 
his  "  Connexion  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments."  Bishop  Lowth 
was  busy  with  his  invaluable  works  on  Hebrew  poetry,  &c.  Tho- 
mas Stackhouse  was  preparing  his  "History  of  the  Bible."  George 
Lavington  was  developing  the  talents  which  he  afterwards  em- 
ployed in  writing  "  The  Enthusiasm  of  the  Papists  and  Methodists 
Compared,"  and  William  Law,  the  well-known  author  of  the  "  Seri- 
ous Call  to  a  Devout  and  Holy  Life,"  had  abandoned  the  pulpit,, 

*  Knight's  History  of  England, 

2  A 


370  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l717. 

and  become  tutor  to  Edward  Gibbon,  tlie  father  of  the  great  his- 
torian. 

Among  Dissenters,  Edmund  Calamy  was  preaching  and  ^writing 
almost  unceasingly.  Isaac  Watts  was  an  inmate  of  Abney  House,  and 
was  composing  hymns  which  have  been  sung  by  myriads.  Natha- 
niel Lardner  was  completing  his  "  Credibility  of  the  Gospel  His- 
tory." Samuel  Chandler  was  lecturing  at  the  Old  Je-nTy  Chapel. 
Philip  Doddridge  had  opened  his  Dissenting  Academy  at  Nor- 
thampton. Daniel  Neal  was  publishing  his  "History  of  the  Puri- 
tans;" and  John  Leland  was  answering  Tindal's  "Christianity  as 
Old  as  the  Creation." 

Belonging  to  other  classes  of  distinguished  men  living  at  this 
period,  are  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  who,  in  1727,  was  buried  with  great 
magnificence  in  Westminster  Abbey ;  Edmund  Halley,  who  was 
Newton's  highly  respected  friend ;  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  who  suc- 
ceeded Newton  as  the  President  of  the  Ptoyal  Society ;  Nicholas 
Saunderson,  the  son  of  a  Yorkshire  exciseman,  blind  from  infancy, 
and  yet  one  of  the  most  illustrious  mathematical  professors  that 
the  University  of  Cambridge  ever  had ;  William  Emerson,  who, 
with  a  dirty  wig  half  off  his  head,  his  shirt  buttoned  behind,  and 
inexpressibles  that  disdained  the  aid  of  braces,  wrote  books  con- 
nected with  almost  every  branch  of  the  science  of  mathematics ; 
Richard  Bentley,  the  son  of  a  Yorkshire  blacksmith,  who  rose  to 
the  high  office  of  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity,  and  of  whom  Still- 
ingfleet  remarked,  that  "had  he  but  the  gift  of  humility,  he 
would  be  the  most  remarkable  man  in  Europe ;"  Sir  Richard 
Steele,  Joseph  Addison,  Alexander  Pope,  John  Gay,  James  Thom- 
son, Matthew  Prior,  and  "William  Congreve,  may  all  be  mentioned 
in  a  cluster;  Edward  Young,  whose  "Night  Thoughts"  have  im- 
mortalised his  memory  ;  hut  who  was  a  poet  of  high  distinction 
long  before  they  were  thought  about,  having,  in  1728,  received 
from  Wharton  for  his  satire  entitled  "  The  Universal  Passion," 
the  enormous  sum  of  £3000  ;  Samuel  Johnson,  who,  at  the  time 
of  Samuel  Wesley's  death,  was  writing  his  first  work  for  the  press, 
"  Lobo's  Voyage  to  Abyssinia  ;"  Allan  Ramsay,  who  was  revolv- 
ing in  his  mind  the  thoughts  and  charms  of  his  "  Gentle  Shep- 
herd;" Edward  Cave,  the  son  of  a  shoemaker,  who  was  now 
meditating  how  to  carry  into  effect  his  long  cherished-schem.e  of 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine;  William  Croft,  who  was  revelling 
among  his  musical  compositions ;  Handel,  who,  in  his  enormous 


AGE  55.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEAES.  871 

white  wig,  was  putting  together  his  imrivalled  oratorios  ;  Sir  God- 
frey Kneller,  who  was  painting  heads  to  ready-made  bodies  with 
inconceivable  rapidity  ;  Dahl,  Eichardson,  Jervas,  and  others,  who 
were  clothing  their  portraits  with  loose  drapery,  the  costume  of  no 
age  or  nation  whatever ;  Hogarth,  who  was  rising  to  the  zenith 
of  his  fame  ;  and  Eoubiliac,  whose  chisel  was  giving  to  the  marble 
a  vitality  which  almost  breathed. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  distinguished  men  who  flourished  during 
the  last  twenty  years  of  Samuel  ^Yesley's  life ;  and  among  them 
he  himself  was  not  the  least  eminent.  It  was  during  this  period 
tiiat  he  prepared  and  wrote  the  greatest  work  that  proceeded  from 
his  prolific  pen,  entitled  "  Dissertationes  in  Librum  Jobi — Autore, 
Samuele  Wesley,  Eectore  de  Epworth  in  Dioecesi  Lincolniensi." 
The  work  is  a  large-sized  folio  of  more  than  600  pages,  of  good  paper, 
and  beautifully  printed.  It  is  written  in  Latin,  intermixed  with 
innumerable  Hebrew  and  Greek  C[Uotations. 

Mv  Wesley  was  employed  upon  this  remarkable  work  for  more 
than  five  and  twenty  years.  It  was  first  begun  previous  to  the 
burning  of  his  parsonage,  in  1709.  He  had  carefully  read  the 
book  of  Job,  first  in  the  Hebrew  text,  and  secondly  in  that  of  the 
Greek  Septuagint.  These  he  collated  together,  making,  as  he 
proceeded,  the  notes  and  observations  that  occurred  to  him.  He 
then  procured  Walton's  great  Polyglott  Bible,  containing  the 
Sacred  Text  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  languages ;  the  Pentateuch 
in  Samaritan  ;  the  Psalms  and  the  New  Testament  in  Syriac, 
Ai'abic,  Chaldaic,  and  Ethiopic ;  the  four  Gospels  in  Persic  ;  to- 
gether with  the  Septuagint  and  Vulgate  versions  of  both  Testa- 
ments. Collating  what  he  had  already  done  with  the  versions  of 
the  book  of  Job  in  Walton's  Polyglott,  he  greatly  increased  his 
notes  and  observations.  He  had  proceeded  thus  far,  when  the 
fire  of  1709  broke  out,  and  every  leaf  of  his  Polyglott  and  of  his 
collections  on  Job  were  utterly  destroyed. 

He  procured  another  Polyglott  and  recommenced  his  studies. 
The  Hebrew  text  was  read  over  again  and  again.  The  Alexan- 
drian and  Vatican  editions  of  the  Septuagint  were  diligently  com- 
pared. All  the  variations  in  the  Chaldee,  Arabic,  and  Syriac  ver- 
sions, with  the  principal  critics,  as  exhibited  in  Pool's  "  Synopsis," 
together  with  all  the  fragments  of  Origen's  "  Hexapla,"  were  care- 
fully collated.  Tindal's  and  the  Bishop's  Bible  were  compared. 
All  the  commentators  wdthin  his  reach  were  consulted.     Pliny, 


372  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

Salmasius,  Mercator,  Jerome,  Eusebius,  Strabo,  Diodorus  Siculus, 
Luitsius,  Sanson,  Purchas,  Hakluyt,  De  la  Valle,  Pentinger 
Bochart,  Calmet,  Pineda,  Si3anheim,  Hyde,  Bunting,  Greaves, 
Sandys,  Usher,  Lloyd,  Marshall,  Eeyland,  and  Maundrell,  were 
all  laid  under  contribution  to  his  work.  Accompanied  by  his 
son  John,  he  visited,  in  1733,  the  library  of  Lord  Milton  at  Went- 
worth  House,  and  acknowledges  that  without  the  kindness  of  his 
lordship,  the  work  would  have  come  into  the  world  mutilated,  or 
would  have  perished  as  an  abortion.  While  at  Wentworth  House, 
their  stay  was  jDrolonged  over  the  Sabbath,  and  John  Wesley  occu- 
pied the  pulpit  of  Wentworth  Church  to  the  no  small  gratification 
of  the  parishioners.* 

Mr  Wesley  also  received  assistance  from  Maurice  Johnson,  Esq., 
who  was  a  distinguished  antiquarian,  and  the  founder  of  the 
Gentleman's  Society  at  Spalding,  of  which  many  of  the  greatest 
men  in  the  nation,  including  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Alexander  Pope, 
Sir  Hans  Sloane,  and  Samuel  Wesley,  were  members.  Johnson 
was  born  at  Spalding,  was  a  student  of  the  Inner  Temple,  London, 
married  early  a  lineal  descendant  of  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  had 
twenty-six  children,  and  was  the  possessor  of  a  fine  collection  of 
plants  and  medals.  He  was  held  in  high  esteem  for  the  frankness 
and  benevolence  of  his  character,  and  was  always  ready  to  com- 
municate the  results  of  his  literary  researches  to  all  who  applied 
to  him  for  inform ation.-f*  He  contributed  one  of  the  maps  to  Mr 
Wesley's  "  Book  of  Job ; "  and  also  one  of  the  dissertations  on 
"  Job's  Jurisprudence."  j 

Assistance  was  also  received  from  Roger  Gale,  Esq.,§  a  gentle- 
man who  was  educated  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge ;  possessed 
a  considerable  estate  at  Scruton,  Yorkshire ;  was  Member  of  Par- 
liament for  Northallerton,  the  first  Vice-President  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries,  and  was  considered  one  of  the  most  learned  men 
of  his  age.  He  died  at  Scruton,  in  1744,  universally  esteemed, 
and  left  all  his  MSS.  and  Roman  coins  to  his  alma  mater,  Cam- 
bridge University.  [| 

Mr  Wesley  was  further  assisted  by  his  three  sons,   Samuel, 


*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family,  vol.  i.  p.  327.,  and  Everett's  Methodism  in  Sheffield 
p.  7. 

t  NichoU's  Literary  Anecdotes. 

t  Clarke's  Wesley  Family,  and  NichoU's  Literary  Anecdotes,  vol.  iv.  p.  548. 

§  NichoU's  Ibid.  II  Chambers's  Biographical  Dictionary. 


A(;E  73.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEARS.  373 

John,  and  Charles,  who  did  everything  in  the  work  that  dutiful 
sons  should  do  for  an  aged  parent. 

During  the  last  few  years  of  his  life,  Mr  Wesley  suffered  most 
painfully  from  the  gout  and  palsy,  and  hence  found  it  necessary 
to  employ  an  amanuensis.  Two  gentlemen  who  were  employed 
in  this  capacity,  in  writing  the  "  Dissertations  on  the  Book  of 
Job,"  were  John  Eomley  and  John  Whitelamb. 

We  have  no  information  of  Komley's  origin,  except  that  he 
studied  divinity  under  Samuel  Wesley  ;  graduated  at  Lincoln 
College,  Oxford ;  and  was  for  a  time  Mr  Wesley's  curate.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Gentleman's  Society  at  Spalding ;  and,  in 
1730,  presented  to  that  society  an  "Account  of  the  Manors,  Vil- 
lages, Seats,  and  Church  of  Althorp,  in  Lincolnshire."  *  It  is 
also  stated,  in  Nicholl's  "  Literary  Anecdotes,"  that  he  was  school- 
master at  Wroote.  Seven  years  after  Mr  Wesley's  death,  he  was 
curate  of  Epworth,  and  refused  to  allow  John  Wesley  either  to 
read  the  prayers  or  to  preach  in  Epworth  church,  and,  in  Wesley's 
presence,  delivered  a  florid  and  oratorical  sermon  on  enthusiasts, 
which  led  Wesley  to  preach  the  same  evening  on  his  father's 
tombstone  to  such  a  congregation  as  Epworth  had  never  seen.-f- 
Seven  months  afterwards,  John  Wesley  preached  again  on  the 
same  sacred  spot,  and,  on  asking  Romley's  permission  to  receive 
the  sacrament,  received  as  an  answer,  "  Tell  Mr  Wesley  I  shall 
not  give  him  the  sacrament,  for  he  is  wot  fit."  X  Li  August  1744, 
he  was  again  at  Epworth,  and  heard  Romley  preach  two  sermons 
so  "  exquisitely  bitter  and  totally  false "  as  he  had  never  heard 
before.  In  May  1745,  when  he  was  again  present,  Romley 's 
"  sermon,  from  beginning  to  end,  was  another  railing  accusation."  § 
Three  years  after  this,  Romley  had  lost  his  "  soft,  smooth,  tunefu 
voice,  without  hope  of  recovery,  and  spoke  in  a  manner  so  shock- 
ing to  hear  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  make  himself  heard 
by  one  quarter  of  his  congregation."  ||  He  also  became  a  tijjpler, 
and  was  sometimes  "so  drunk  that  he  could  scarce  stand  or 
speak."  ^  In  1751,  he  became  mad,  and  had  to  be  confined. 
During  the  first  week  of  his  confinement,  he  was  for  constraining 
every  one  that  came  near  him  to  kneel  down  and  pray;  and 
frequently  cried  out,   "You  will  be  lost,  you  will  be  damned, 

*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family  and  Nicholl's  Literary  Anecdotes,  vol.  vi.  p.  110. 

t  "Wesley's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  354.  J  Ibid.,  p.  384.  §  Ibid.,  p.  465. 

II  /6id,,  vol.  ii.  p.  99.  •]  /6irf.,  vol.  viii.  p.  29. 


S7-i  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735 

unless  you  know  your  sins  are  pardoned."  Two  or  three  weeks 
afterwards  he  died.*  Such  was  one  of  the  men  who  helped 
Samuel  Wesley  in  the  preparation  of  his  great  work,  "  Disserta- 
tiones  in  Librum  Jobi." 

The  other  amanuensis  was  John  Whitelamb,  who  was  born  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Wroote,  and  received  the  rudiments  of  his 
education  at  an  endowed  school,  established  there  in  1706,  in 
accordance  with  the  will  of  Mr  Travers,  who  bequeathed  three 
hundred  and  seventy-nine  acres  of  land  for  the  support  of  schools 
at  Wroote,  Hatfield,  and  Thorne.  The  school  was  placed  under 
the  care  of  Eomley,  who  recommended  Whitelamb  to  the  notice  of 
Mr  Wesley  as  a  lad  of  promising  abilities.  Mr  Wesley  took 
Whitelamb  to  his  house  at  Epworth,  where  he  became  his  amanu- 
ensis in  place  of  Eomley,  and,  for  four  years,  was  employed  in 
transcribing  his  "Dissertations  on  the  Book  of  Job;"  and  in 
designing  the  illustrations  for  it,  several  of  which  were  engraved 
with  his  own  hand. 

Under  the  care  of  the  Eector  of  Epworth,  young  Whitelamb 
obtained  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek  to  enter  the 
university ;  and  at  the  exjDense,  chiefly,  of  Mr  Wesley's  family,  he 
was  maintained  at  Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  where  he  obtained  his 
education  gratis  under  Mr  John  Wesley,  then  a  fellow  of  that  seat 
of  learning.  Li  a  letter  to  his  father,  dated  "June  11,  1731/' 
John  Wesley  says :  "  John  Whitelamb  reads  one  English,  one 
Latin,  and  one  Greek  book  alternately ;  and  never  meddles  with  a 
new  one  in  any  of  the  languages  till  he  has  ended  the  old  one. 
If  he  goes  on  as  he  has  begun,  I  dare  take  upon  me  to  say,  that, 
by  the  time  he  has  been  here  four  or  five  years,  there  will  not  be 
such  a  one  of  his  standing  in  Lincoln  College,  perhaps  not  in 
the  University  of  Oxford." -}* 

Mrs  Wesley  used  to  call  Whitelamb  "  j)oor  starveling  Johnny," 
and  no  wonder  ;  for  John  Wesley  writing  to  his  brother,  Samuel, 
a  few  months  after  the  date  just  given,  says;  "John  Whitelamb 
wants  a  gown  muchj,  and  I  am  not  rich  enough  to  buy  him  one  at 
present,"  |  and  he  then  states  his  purpose  to  use  his  influence 
among  his  friends  to  beg  the  money  requisite  to  make  the  pur- 
chase. 

In  1733,  Whitelamb  became  Samuel  Wesley's  curate,  and  was 

*  Wesley's  Worh,  vol.  ii.  p.  221.  t  Ibid.,  vol.  xii.  p.  6.  +  Ibid,  jy. 22. 


AGE  73.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEARS.  375 

married  to  his  daughter,  Mary.  In  one  short  year  he  became  a 
widower,  and  was  so  overwhelmed  with  grief  that  he  wished  to 
get  away  from  the  scene  of  his  sorrows,  and  to  embark  in  the 
contemplated  mission  to  Georgia. 

On  the  6th  of  June  1742,  John  Wesley,  being  refused  the  use 
of  the  Epworth  church,  preached  standing  upon  liis  father's  tomb- 
stone. Whitelamb,  who  was  then  the  rector  at  Wroote,  was  one 
of  his  congregation,  and,  five  days  after,  wrote  him  a  most  touch- 
ing letter.  He  says :  "  I  saw  you  at  Epworth.  Fain  would  I 
have  spoken  to  you,  but  that  I  am  quite  at  a  loss  how  to  address 
you.  Your  way  of  thinking  is  so  extraordinary  that  your  presence 
creates  awe,  as  if  you  were  an  inhabitant  of  another  world.  I 
retain  the  highest  veneration  and  affection  for  you.  The  sight  of 
you  moves  me  strangely.  My  heart  overflows  with  gratitude.  I 
feel,  in  a  high  degree,  all  that  tenderness  and  yearning  of  bowels 
with  which  I  am  affected  towards  every  branch  of  Mr  Wesley's 
family.  I  cannot  refrain  from  tears,  when  I  reflect  this  is  the 
man  who  at  Oxford  was  more  than  a  father  to  me. 

"  I  am  quite  forgot.  None  of  the  family  ever  honours  me  with 
a  line  !  Have  I  been  ungrateful  ?  I  appeal  to  sister  Patty  ;  I 
appeal  to  Mr  Ellison  whether  I  have  or  no.  I  have  been  passionate, 
fickle,  a  fool ;  but  I  hope  I  shall  never  be  ungrateful. 

''  Dear  sir,  is  it  in  my  power  to  serve  or  to  oblige  you  in  any 
way  ?  Glad  I  should  be  that  you  should  make  use  of  me.  God 
open  all  our  eyes  and  lead  us  into  truth,  whatever  it  be. 

"  John  Whitelamb."  * 

John  Wesley  did  make  use  of  him,  for,  two  days  after,  he  preached 
twice  in  Whitelamb's  church  f;  a  circumstance  which  gave  great 
offence  to  the  High  Church  party,  and  was  likely  to  involve  White- 
Iamb  in  considerable  trouble  at  the  approaching  triennial  visita- 
tion. I 

John  Wesley  says  that  at  this  time,  and  for  some  years  after, 
Whitelamb  did  not  believe  the  Christian  revelation.  §  I  can  hardly 
understand  this,  unless  it  arose  out  of  Whitelamb  stating  to  Charles 
Wesley  that  he  looked  upon  the  doctrines  preached  by  himself  and 
his  brother  "  as  of  ill  consequence,"  and  that  he  had  great  reason 
to  think  that,  what  he  calls  "  the  seal  and  testimony  of  the  Spirit 

*  Methodist  Magazine,  1778,  p.  183.  t  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  356. 

J  Methodist  Marjazine,  1778,  p.  185.  §  Ibid. 


376  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

was,  ill  the  generality  of  their  followers,  merely  the  effect  of  a 
heated  fancy."  *  In  the  same  letter,  however,  he  speaks  of  John 
Wesley  in  the  kindest  terms,  and  says — "  He  behaved  to  me  truly 
like  himself.  I  found  in  him  what  I  have  always  experienced 
heretofore,  the  gentleman,  the  friend,  the  brother,  the  Christian.'' 

Whitelamb  died  in  July  1769,  i*  and  was  succeeded  by  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Whitelamb  family,  who  was  remarkable  for  his  various 
learning,  and  especially  for  his  skill  in  mathematics.  J 

In  1844,  there  was  an  aged  female  at  Wroote,  who  remembered 
John  Whitelamb,  and  had  been  a  scholar  in  his  school.  She  de- 
scribed him  as  a  person  of  retiring  habits,  and  fond  of  solitude. 
She  was  present  when  he  was  suddenly  seized,  on  his  way  to  per- 
form divine  service  at  the  church,  with  the  illness  which  shortly 
terminated  in  his  death  ;  and  stated  that  his  funeral  was  attended 
by  a  considerable  number  of  clergymen,  who  thus  paid  their  last 
tribute  of  respect  to  a  departed  friend,  §  On  a  small  stone  in  the 
churchyard,  about  two  feet  long  and  one  foot  broad,  is  the  follow- 
ing inscription  : — In  memory  of  John  Whitelamb,  Eector  of  this 
Parish  thirty-five  years.  Buried  29th  July  1769,  aged  62  years. 
Worthy  of  imitation.  This  at  the  cost  of  Francis  Wood,  Esq., 
1772."  II 

Dr  Adam  Clarke  says  Whitelamb  was  a  Deist ;  and  John  Wes- 
ley says  that  for  years  he  did  not  believe  the  Christian  revelation. 
As  to  Dr  Clarke's  assertion,  I  demur  to  it  in  toto  ;  and,  as  to  Mr 
Wesley's  I  agree  with  Southey  in  regarding  it  as  a  hasty  and  loose 
expression,  only  applicable  to  the  peculiar — the  great  and  glorious 
doctrines — which  Wesley  and  his  band  of  helpers  were  the  means 
of  rescuing  from  oblivion,  and  of  propagating  throughout  the  land. 
Still  Wesley  always  regarded  him  as  a  backslider,  and,  after  his 
death,  exclaimed — "  Oh,  why  did  not  he  die  forty  years  ago,  while 
he  knew  in  whom  he  had  believed  ! "  ^ 

As  an  apology  for  these  lengthened  remarks  respecting  John 
Whitelamb,  the  reader  is  reminded  that  this  able  man  married  one 
of  Mr  Wesley's  daughters,  and,  for  four  years,  acted  as  his  amanu- 
ensis in  transcribing  his  "  Dissertations  on  the  Book  of  Job," 

Mr  Wesley's  Dissertations  are  fifty-three  in  number,  (Dr  Adam 
Clarke,  in  mistake,  says  thirty-five,)  and  many  of  them,  besides 

*  Methodist  Magazine,  1778,  p.  185.  f  Ibid,  1845,  p.  151. 

i  Clarke's  Wesley  Family.  §  Methodist  Magazine,  1845,  p.  151. 

II  Stonehouse's  History  of  the  Me  of  A  xholme.  H  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


AGE  73.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEAKS,  377 

being  immensely  learned,  are  in  a  high  degree  interesting   and 
curious.     The  following  is  a  list  of  them  : — 

1.  Whether  the  Book  of  Job  be  a  true  history  or  a  poetic  par- 
able ? 

2.  The  Author  of  the  Book. 

3.  The  Dramatic  Construction  of  the  Book. 

4.  The  Pastoral  Songs,  &c.,  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

5.  The  Elegance  and  Rhetoric  of  the  Book  of  Job, 

6.  Parallels  from  Homer. 

7.  The  Name,  or  Names  of  Job. 

8.  The  Posterity  of  Joktan. 

9.  The  Posterity  of  Chanaan. 
10.  The  Phoenician  Shepherds, 

]  1.  The  Nations  Overthrown  by  Chedorlaomer. 

12.  The  Children  of  Abraham  by  Hagar. 

13.  The  Five  Cities  of  the  Plain. 

14.  Allusions  in  the  Book  of  Job  to  the  Pall  of  Angels  and  of 
Man ;  to  the  Antediluvians  and  the  Plood  ;  to  the  Precepts  of 
Noah  and  the  Sabbath  ;  to  the  Destruction  of  Sodom,  &c. 

15.  The  History  of  Edom. 

16.  The  Red  Sea. 

17.  The  Gulf  of  Persia. 

18.  Arabia  Petrsea. 

19.  The  Desert  of  Arabia. 

20.  Arabia  Felix. 

21.  The  Magi  who  visited  Christ. 

22.  On  Chamo,  Gush,  and  their  Posterity. 

23.  Idumea. 

24.  The  Four  Quarters  of  the  Globe. 

25.  The  Children  of  Job. 

26.  The  Wife  of  Job. 

27.  The  Friends  of  Job. 

28.  The  Enemies  of  Job. 

29.  The  Country  of  Job. 

30.  The  Time  of  Job. 

31.  Job's  Knowledge  of  the  Military  Art. 

32.  Job's  Jurisprudence. 

33.  Metals,  Trees,  Herbs,  &c. 

34.  Gems. 

35.  Calamities  of  Job  not  recited  in  the  Prologue  of  the  Booki 


378  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

SQ.  Constellations  and  Meteors. 

37.  Phoenicia. 

88.  Behemoth  and  Leviathan. 

39.  The  Origin  of  Evil. 

40.  On  Idolatry. 

41.  Sabians  and  Sabianism. 

42.  Zoroasteranianism. 

4-3.  Poetical  Description  of  Animals. 

44.  Serpent-worship. 

45.  Hades. 

46.  The  Magi  of  the  Ancients. 
47   Balaam. 

48.  Parallels  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures — the  Persians,  the 
Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  and  the  Saxons. 

49.  The  Mode  of  Writing  among  the  Ancients. 

50.  Death  and  the  Resurrection. 

51.  The  Recent  Mode  of  Interpreting  Scripture. 

52.  The  Eaith  of  Job  and  Elihu. 

53.  Additions  of  the  Septuagint  to  the  end  of  Job. 
Unhappily  the  wliole  of  these  Dissertations  are  written  in  Latin, 

and,  therefore,  are  never  likely  to  be  read  except  by  the  lettered 
few.  Who  will  undertake  to  furnish  a  correct  translation  of  some 
of  them  for  a  periodical  like  the  Methodist  Magazine  ? 

After  the  Dissertations,  there  are  nearly  two  hundred  pages 
occupied  with  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Book  of  Job,  collated  with 
the  Chaldee  Paraphrase,  and  with  the  Septuagint  in  its  best 
editions  ;  and  also  with  the  Syriac  and  Arabic  versions  ;  likewise 
with  the  Latin  versions  of  Castellio,  Montanus,  St.  Ambrose, 
Junius  Tremellius,  Piscator,  and  of  the  Zurich  divines,  together 
with  the  English  version  of  Tindal,  and  the  present  authorised 
version.  Every  verse  of  the  whole  book  of  Job  was  collated 
in  all  the  versions  above-mentioned,  and  all  the  variations  set 
down.  This  must  have  been  an  immense  labour.  Dr  Adam 
Clarke  says — "  It  is  one  of  the  most  complete  things  of  the  kind 
"  have  ever  met  with,  and  must  be  invaluable  to  any  man  who  may 
\idsh  to  read  the  book  of  Job  critically." 

The  frontispiece  of  Mr  Wesley's  large  folio  is  a  portrait  of  him- 
telf  in  the  character  of  Job.  He  is  represented  as  without  beard, 
tmd  without  whiskers ;  as  wearing  a  small  cap ;  as  clothed  in  a 
long,  loose-flowing  robe ;  and  as  sitting  in  an  antique  chair  with  a 


AGE  73.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEAES.  379 

sceptre  in  his  hand,  two  pyramids  being  placed  behind  him,  and 
above  him  the  arch  and  portcullis  of  an  ancient  gate. 

The  book  is  also  illustrated  with  a  most  hideous  picture  of  the 
five  cities  of  the  plain,  probably  designed  and  executed  by  the 
untutored  hand  of  John  Whitelamb ;  two  maps  of  the  region  of 
the  Eed  Sea ;  another  plate,  pretending  to  represent  the  tombs  of 
Rachel,  Dionysius,  the  Maccabees,  Semiramis,  and  Herod  the  Great; 
two  maps  of  Arabia  ;  a  map  of  Maundell's  Journey  from  Aleppo 
to  Jerusalem ;  an  illustration  of  the  Borealis ;  together  with  large- 
sized  engravings  of  the  hippopotamus,  the  crocodile,  and  the  horse. 

In  reference  to  the  horse,  the  following  anecdote  is  worth  pre- 
serving. It  appears  that  Lord  Oxford  had  in  his  possession,  what 
was  supposed  to  be,  the  finest  Arab  horse  in  existence.  His  Lord- 
ship had  already  shown  great  kindness  to  Mr  Wesley's  son  Samuel 
at  Westminster,  and,  thus  encouraged,  the  rector  wrote,  saying  he 
was  wishful  to  illustrate  his  Dissertations  by  an  engraving  of  the 
Arab  horse,  and  that  he  had  been  told  that  his  lordship's  "  Bloody 
Arab"  was  the  finest  animal  of  that  breed  that  existed.  He  adds; 
— "  I  have  an  ambition  to  get  him  drawn  by  the  best  artist  we  can 
find,  and  place  him  as  the  greatest  ornament  of  my  work.  If  your 
lordship  has  a  picture  of  him  I  would  beg  that  my  engraver  may 
take  a  draft  from  it,  or,  if  not,  that  my  son  may  have  the  liberty 
to  get  one  drawn  from  life."  * 

Samuel  Wesley,  jun.,  shared  the  intimate  friendship  of  this  dis- 
tinguished statesman,  and  was  a  frequent  guest  at  his  lordship's 
house;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that,  through  him,  the 
father's  request  was  granted,  especially  remembering  that  Lord 
Oxford  was  not  only  a  great  encourager  of  literature,  but  the 
greatest  collector,  in  his  time,  of  curious  books  and  manuscripts, 
and  that  he  it  was  who  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  celebrated 
Harleian  library,  now  one  of  the  richest  treasures  of  the  British 
Museum. 

Prefixed  to  Mr  Wesley's  Dissertations  is  a  list  of  subscribers' 
names,  numbering  more  than  three  hundred,  and  including  thirty- 

*  The  rector  of  Epworth  was  under  considerable  obligations  to  Lord  Oxford, 
as  appears  from  the  dedication  of  his  son  Samuel's  poems  to  that  nobleman.  He 
writes  : — "  Neither  obscurity  of  condition,  nor  distance  of  place,  could  prevent 
your  lordship  from  distinguishing  and  encouraging  a  worthy  clergyman,  my 
father,  in  his  indefatigable  researches  after  truth,  and  his  unfashionable  studies  in 
divinity  ;  which,  perhaps,  might  have  been  left  unfinished  without  that  encourage- 
ment."—Poems  on  Several  Occasions,  by  S.  Wesley,  London,  1736. 


380  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

one  nobles,  fifteen  bishops,  and  twenty-two  deans  and  other  digni- 
taries of  the  Church.  Tlie  following  are  some  of  the  distinguished 
names  in  this  illustrious  list,  given  alphabetically: — Earl  of  Ash- 
burnham,  Bishop  Atterbury,  Lord  Bathurst,  Lord  Bolingbroke, 
Duke  of  Buckinghamshire,  Earl  of  Burlington,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  Bishof)  of  London,  Earl  of  Malton,  Earl  of  Orrery, 
Earl  of  Oxford,  Alexander  Pope,  Earl  of  Portmore,  Sir  Hans 
Sloane,  Dean  Swift,  Lord  Tyrconnel,  Dr  Waterland,  Samuel,  John, 
Charles,  and  Matthew  Wesley,  and  William  Whiston.  Such 
names  are  a  strong  intimation  of  Mr  Wesley's  high  repute  as  a 
literary  man. 

The  proposals  for  publishing  the  Dissertations  were  circu- 
lated in  1729,  but  the  book  was  not  ready  for  the  market  until 
about  the  year  1736,  that  being  the  date  of  a  copy  now  before  us. 
The  work  was  dedicated  by  permission  to  Queen  Caroline,  to 
whom  it  was  presented  by  John  Wesley,  two  days  before  he  set 
sail  for  Georgia.  He  says,  her  Majesty  received  it  with  "many 
good  words  and  smiles."*  Dr  Clarke  relates  that,  when  Wesley 
was  introduced  into  the  royal  presence,  the  Queen  was  romping 
■with  her  maids  of  honour ;  but  she  suspended  her  play,  took  the 
book  from  his  hand,  and  said,  "  It  is  very  prettily  bound,"  and 
then  laid  it  down  without  opening  it.  He  rose  up,  bowed,  walked 
backward,  and  withdrew.  The  Queen  bowed  and  smiled,  and  im- 
mediately resumed  her  sport.f 

Samuel  Badcock,  whose  friendship  for  the  Wesley  family  was 
dubious,  says,  Mr  Wesley's  Dissertations  were  "  never  held  in  any 
estimation  by  the  learned."  John  Wesley  replied,  "  I  doubt  that. 
The  book  certainly  contains  immense  learning,  but  of  a  kind  which 
I  do  not  admire."  % 

Bishop  Warburton,  of  whom  Dr  Johnson  says,  "  his  knowledge 
was  too  multifarious  to  be  always  exact,"  writing  to  Bishop  Hurd, 
remarks  :  "  Poor  Job  !  It  was  his  eternal  fate  to  be  persecuted 
by  his  fi'iends.  His  three  comforters  passed  sentence  of  con- 
demnation upon  him,  and  he  has  been  executing  in  effigie  ever 
since.  He  was  first  boimd  to  the  stake  by  a  long  Catena  of  Greek 
fathers  ;  then  tortured  by  Pineda ;  then  strangled  by  Caryll ;  and 
afterwards  cut  up  by  Wesley,  and  anatomised  by  Garnet.  He 
was  ordained,   I  think,   by  a  fate  like  that  of  Prometheus,   to 

*  Priestley's  Original  Letters,  p.  56.  t  Clarke's  Wesle'j  Family. 

X  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1 785,  p.  246. 


AGE  73.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEARS.  381 

lie  still  upon  his  dunghill,  and  have  his  brains  sucked  out  by 
owls.'* 

As  a  set-off  to  Warburton's  slap-dash  wit,  we  give  a  letter 
which  Alexander  Pope  addressed  to  Dean  Swift  in  the  year  1730  : 
— "  This  is  a  letter  extraordinary,  to  do  and  say  nothing  but 
recommend  to  you  a  pious  and  good  work,  and  for  a  good  and 
honest  man  ;  moreover,  he  is  about  seventy,  and  poor,  which  you 
might  think  included  in  the  word  'honest.'  I  shall  think  it  a 
kindness  done  to  myself,  if  you  can  jDropagate  Mr  Wesley's  sub- 
scription for  his  Commentary  on  Job  among  your  divines,  (bishops 
excepted,  of  whom  there  is  no  hope,)  and  among  such  as  are 
believers,  or  readers  of  Scripture.  Even  the  curious  may  find 
something  to  please  them,  if  they  scorn  to  be  edified.  It  has  been 
the  labour  of  eight  years -f-  of  this  learned  man's  life.  I  call  him 
what  he  is — a  learned  man  ;  and  I  engage  you  will  approve  his 
prose  more  than  you  formerly  could  his  poetry.  Lord  Bolingbroke 
is  a  favourer  of  it,  and  allows  you  to  do  your  best  to  serve  an  old 
Tory  and  a  sufferer  for  the  Church  of  England,  though  you  are  a 
Whig,  as  I  am."^ 

Lord  Oxford  wrote  to  Swift  in  the  same  year,  requesting  the 
same  favour,  and  says  :  "  The  person  concerned  is  a  worthy,  honest 
man ;  and  by  this  work  of  his  he  is  in  hopes  to  get  free  of  a  load 
of  debt  which  has  hung  upon  him  for  some  years.  This  debt  of 
his  is  not  owing  to  any  folly  or  extravagance,  but  to  the  calamity 
of  his  house  having  been  twice  burned,  which  he  was  obliged  to 
rebuild  ;  and  having  but  small  preferment  in  the  Church,  and  a 
large  family  of  children,  he  has  not  been  able  to  extricate  him- 
self out  of  the  difficulties  these  accidents  have  brought  upon  him. 
Three  sons  he  has  bred  up  well  at  Westminster,  and  they  are 
excellent  scholars.  The  eldest  has  been  one  of  the  ushers  in  West- 
minster School  since  the  year  171 4.  He  is  a  man  in  years,  yet 
hearty  and  able  to  study  many  hours  in  a  day.  This,  in  short,  is 
the  case  of  an  honest,  poor,  worthy  clergyman ;  and  I  hope  you 
will  take  him  under  your  protection.  I  cannot  pretend  that  my 
recommendation  should  have  any  weight  with  you,  but  as  it  is 
joined  to  and  under  the  wing  of  Mr  Pope." 

We  have  now  passed  in  review  the  whole  of  Mr  Wesley's 
literary  productions,  excepting  one.     This  was  "A  Letter  to  a 

*  Nicholl's  Literary  Anecdotes.  t  In  reality,  it  was  much  more  than  this. 

X  Nicholl's  Literary  A  necdotes. 


382  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

Curate,"  originally  written  for  the  use  of  the  brother  of  the  Rev. 
Mr  Hoole  of  Haxey,  who  was  about  to  be  ordained,  and  to  become 
Samuel  Wesley's  curate  at  Epworth,  A  year  or  two  after,  the 
manuscript  was  sent  to  John  Wesley,  who  published  it  shortly 
after  his  father's  death,  and  says,  in  his  preface,  that  the  reader 
will  "  find  strong  sense  and  deep  experience,  in  jDlain,  clear,  and  un- 
affected words,  and  a  strain  of  piety  running  through  the  whole, 
worthy  a  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ."  This  considerably-sized  pam- 
phlet is  now  extremely  scarce,  but  the  reader  may  find  a  reprint 
of  it  in  an  Appendix  to  Jackson's  "  Life  of  Charles  Wesley," 
vol.  ii.  p.  500.  As  the  pamphlet  throws  great  light  upon  Mr 
Wesley's  character,  displays  his  immense  reading,  mentions  the 
leading  men  of  his  times  with  whom  he  was  personally  acquainted, 
and  makes  several  statements  respecting  his  own  proceedings  as  a 
parish  priest,  we  take  the  liberty  of  giving  a  lengthened  outline 
of  its  valuable  contents.* 

The  points  upon  upon  which  Mr  Wesley  gives  advice  to  his 
young  curate  are^l.  His  general  aims  and  intentions ;  2.  His 
converse  and  demeanour  among  the  parishioners ;  8.  His  reading 
the  liturgy ;  4.  His  studies ;  5.  His  preaching  and  catechising. 
6.  His  administering  the  sacraments.  7.  The  administration  of 
discipline. 

In  reference  to  the  first,  he  avers  that  the  end  to  be  aimed  at 
by  every  Christian  minister  is  "  the  glory  of  God,  the  edifying  of 
His  Church,  and  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls."  The  man  who 
makes  the  attainment  of  worldly  dignity  any  part  of  his  design, 
falls  not  far  short  of  the  iniquity  of  Simon  Magus,  nor  can  he 


*  The  editor  nf  Dr  Clarke's  Wesley  Family  has  thrown  out  the  hint  that 
it  is  not  improbable  that  the  "  Clergyman's  Vade  Mecum"  was  written  by 
Samuel  Wesley  ;  but  I  can  find  no  evidence  of  this.  The  third  edition  of  this 
work,  published,  in  2  vols.,  in  1709,  is  now  before  me.  The  full  title  of  the  first 
volume  is,  "  The  Clergyman's  Vade  Mecum ;  or,  an  Account  of  the  Ancient  and 
Present  Church  of  England ;  the  Duties  and  Rights  of  the  Clergy,  and  of  their 
Privileges  and  Hardships;  containing  full  Directions  relating  to  Ordination,  In- 
stitution, Induction,  and  most  of  the  Difficulties  which  they  commonly  meet 
with  in  the  Discharge  of  their  Office."  The  title  of  the  second  volume  is,  "  The 
Clergyman's  Vade  Mecum,  Part  II.  ;  containing  the  Canonical  Codes  of  the  Pri- 
mitive, Universal,  Eastern,  and  Westei'u  Church,  down  to  the  year  of  our  Lord 
787.  Done  from  the  Original  Greek  and  Latin ;  omitting  no  Canon,  Decree,  or 
any  part  of  them  that  is  curious  or  instructive.  With  explanatory  Notes,  a  large 
Index,  and  a  Preface  showing  the  usefulness  of  the  work  ;  with  some  Reflections 
on  Moderate  Nonconformity,  and  the  Rights  of  the  Church." 


AGE  73.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEAES.  383 

expect  a  nnicli  better  end.  Witliout  the  aim  being  liglit,  a  clergy- 
man's life  would  be  one  of  the  most  tasteless  and  wearisome  things 
in  the  world.  "  For  my  own  part,"  he  says,  "  I  had  rather  be  a 
porter,  or  even  a  pettifogger."  To  keep  the  heart  right  in  this 
matter,  he  recommends  his  curate  to  read,  once  a  quarter,  the 
form  of  ordination ;  just  as  Methodist  preachers,  some  years  ago, 
were  enjoined  to  read  the  "Liverpool  Minutes." 

As  it  regards  "  converse  and  demeanour,"  he  strongly  advises 
that,  when  parish  business  calls  the  minister  to  a  public-house,  as 
it  sometimes  may,  his  stay  in  such  a  place  should  be  as  brief  as 
possible ;  and  that  when  visiting,  especially  the  rich,  he  should 
guard  himself  against  the  bottle  and  against  bribes.  He  recom- 
mends him  to  "visit  his  whole  parish  from  house  to  house,  and 
that  even  the  men  and  maid-servants ;  for  a  good  shepherd  knows 
his  sheep  by  name."  He  advises  him  to  take  down  the  name  and 
age  of  every  person,  and  to  ascertain  who  can  read ;  who  can  say 
their  prayers  and  catechisms ;  who  have  been  confirmed ;  who 
have  received  the  communion ;  who  are  of  age  to  do  it ;  and  who 
have  prayers  in  their  families.  He  had  attempted  this  twice  or 
thrice  himself  during  the  first  twelve  years  of  his  ministry  at 
Epworth ;  but  during  the  last  twelve,  since  his  house  was  burned, 
he  had  been  so  much  diverted,  that,  though  he  had  begun  such  a 
systematised  visiting,  he  had  not  been  able  to  quite  finish  it.  He 
recommends  the  curate  to  visit  the  sick,  even  though  not  requested  ; 
and  to  endeavour  to  suppress  the  new  custom  of  burying  by  candle- 
light. 

With  regard  to  "  reading  prayers,"  *  he  expresses  a  confident 
hope  that  his  curate  will  do  as  he  has  done,  viz.,  read  the  prayers 
on  every  holiday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday;  and,  he  says,  he  should 
be  pleased  if  this  was  done  also  on  the  eves  of  holidays.  He 
remarks  that  there  are  but  very  few  who  read  the  Liturgy  as  it 
should  be  read ;  and  that  he  has  heard  a  hundred  good  preachers 
to  one  good  reader.  He  says — "  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  prayers, 
and  even  the  lessons,  might  be  pricked,  as  are  the  psalms  and 
anthems,  so  as  to  be  read  properly  and  musically."     He  urges  his 

*  In  an  article  in  the  Athenian  Oracle,  vol.  i.  p.  459,  on  the  use  of  extempore 
prayer,  Samuel  Wesley  seems  to  be  in  favour  of  a  medium  betvi^een  the  use  of 
extempore  prayer  and  a  form  of  prayer.  This  he  calls  "premeditated  prayer;" 
that  is,  premeditated  not  in  reference  to  words  but  things.  At  the  same  time  he 
says — "  There  are  very  few  who  have  command  of  words  enough  to  express  them' 
selves  as  they  ought  on  such  an  occasion,  and  therefore  a  form  is  the  safe  way." 


38  i  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [1735. 

friend  to  avoid  "unequal  cadences,"  and  "incondite  whinings  ; 
laying  weight  where  there  ought  to  be  none,  or  omitting  it  where 
it  is  requisite,  like  the  music  of  a  Quakers'  meeting."  "He  must," 
he  adds,  "avoid  a  running  over  the  prayers,  as  if  we  were  in  haste 
to  be  at  the  end  of  them  ;  and,  on  the  other  side,  a  drawling, 
canting  manner,  either  of  which  will  be  apt  to  render  the  reader, 
if  not  the  prayers  themselves,  contemptible." 

Respecting  psalmody,  he  says  that,  as  they  cannot,  at  Epworth, 
"  reach  anthems  and  cathedral  music,  they  must  be  content  with 
their  present  parochial  way  of  singing."  Indeed,  he  inclines  to 
think  they  must  also  be  content  with  their  "  grandsire  Sternhold," 
for  Bishop  Beveridge  had  declared  that  the  common  people  could 
understand  the  Psalms  of  Sternhold  better  than  those  of  Tate  and 
Brad3^  Wesley  says  there  may  be  truth  in  this,  for  the  common 
people  "  have  a  strange  genius  at  understanding  nonsense."  He 
adds  that  the  people  at  Epworth  "did  once  sing  well,  and  it  cost  a 
pretty  deal  to  teach  them,"  The  singing,  however,  was  now  not 
so  good  as  formerly,  and  he  hopes  his  curate  will  tune  them  up 
again  by  meeting  them  at  church  in  the  long  winter  evenings,  and 
by  getting  the  scholars  to  sing  as-  they  used  to  do  when  he  first 
came  thither. 

Concerning  his  "  studies,"  Mr  Wesley  advises  his  curate  to  add 
to  his  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  a  knowledge 
of  the  Hebrew,  for  that  is  necessary  in  order  to  be  a  complete 
divine.  He  contends  that,  while  logic,  history,  law,  pharmacy, 
philosophy,  chronology,  geography,  mathematics,  poetry,  music, 
and  other  parts  of  learning,  are  to  be  read  and  studied,  they  must 
all  be  used  as  auxiliaries  to  divinity.  The  Bible,  however,  must  be 
the  main  subject  of  a  clergyman's  studies,  and  this  ought  always 
to  be  read  with  devotion.  The  Apocryphal  Books  ought  not  to  be 
neglected,  being  of  great  and  venerable  antiquity,  and  some  of 
them  referred  to  by  St  Paul,  and  perhaps  also  by  our  Saviour. 
Mr  Wesley  then  proceeds  to  enumerate  a  host  of  writers  whose 
works  are  worthy  of  being  read  or  otherwise.  Tertullian  had  fire 
enough,  and  Justin  and  Clemens  Alexandrinus-  sense  and  learning ; 
but  Origen  is  worth  them  and  all  others  put  together.  Irenaeus 
is  learned,  acute,  orthodox,  zealous,  and  devout ;  and  St  Cyprian 
is  safer  than  his  master  Tertullian  ;  but  Lactantius,  notwithstand- 
ing the  purity  of  his  language  and  the  beauty  of  his  periods,  is  so 
novel  a  Christian,  or  so  rank  an  heretic,  that  he  scarce  had  patience 


AGE  73.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEAl^S.  o85 

to  read  him.  Socrates  and  Plato  are  almost  transcripts  of  Pytha- 
goras. Tnlly  is  worth  all  the  Piomans.  Seneca  is  well  worth 
reading.  And  thus  Samuel  .Wesley  runs  through  all  the  principal 
writers,  Christian  and  heathen,  from  the  birth  of  Christ  to  the 
time  of  the  Eeformation.  He  had  not  read  much  of  Luther  ; 
Melancthon  was  ingenious  and  polite;  Calvin  worthy  of  being  read 
with  caution.  Bucer  was  pious,  learned,  and  moderate  ;  Bellar- 
mine  had  all  the  strength  of  the  Romanists  ;  Fisher  was  a  great 
man  ;  Gardiner  was  far  from  being  contemptible  ;  Erasmus  useful 
and  pleasant;  Jewel  neat  and  strong ;  Cranmer  pious  and  erudite; 
but  Ridley,  among  all  the  Reformers,  for  clearness,  closeness, 
strength,  and  learning,  stands  pre-eminent.  Chillingworth  was 
one  of  the  best  disputants  in  the  world  ;  Grotius  was  the  prince 
of  commentators,  and  worth  all  the  rest,  though  he  seems  not 
always  consistent  with  himself ;  Hammond  was  learned,  judicious, 
and  orthodox,  if  you  throw  aside  his  Jerusalem,  and  Gnostics,  and 
Simon  Magus  ;  Sanderson  was  a  master  casuist ;  Mede  has  many 
bright  and  happy  thoughts  ;  the  critics  were  worth  a  king's  ran- 
som, and  most  of  them  might  be  found  in  Pool's  Synopsis. 

Speaking  of  his  own  contemporaries,  Wesley  proceeds  to  say  ; — 
Tillotson  brought  the  art  of  preaching  near  perfection,  but  Still- 
ingfleet  was  a  more  universal  scholar  ;  and  yet  Archbishop  Sharpe 
was  a  more  popular  pulpit  orator  than  either.  Bishop  Pearson  was 
a  man  of  almost  inimitable  sense,  piety,  and  learning,  and  his  work 
on  the  creed  ought  to  be  in  every  clergyman's  study,  though  unable 
to  purchase  anything  else  than  the  Bible  and  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  Bishop  Bull  was  a  strong  and  nervous  writer;  and  the 
sermons  of  Bishop  Beveridge  were  in  themselves  a  library.  Bishop 
Spratt  was  one  of  the  first  masters  of  the  English  language. 
Bishop  Burnet,  notwithstanding  his  Scotticisms,  had  a  prodigious 
genius,  and  a  body  that  would  bear  almost  anything,  for  he 
himself  had  told  Wesley  that,  at  one  period  of  his  life,  his  cir- 
cumstances were  such  that,  to  retrieve  them,  he  lived  upon  three- 
halfpence  a  day.  Bishop  Ken  made  almost  all  who  heard  him 
preach  begin  to  weep  ;  Bishop  Hopkins  was  judicious  and  useful ; 
Isaac  Barrow  strong,  masculine,  and  noble  ;  Dodwell  had  piety 
and  learning,  but  was  overfond  of  nostrums  ;  Ray,  Derham,  and 
Boyle  were  as  useful  as  entertaining  ;  Calamy's,  Smalridge's,  and 
Atterbury's  sermons  were  standards ;  Whitby  was  learned  and 
laborious,  though  he  had  brought  his  squirt  to  quench  hell-fire, 

2b 


\ 


886  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735, 

and  to  diminish  the  hononr  of  his  Lord  and  Master  ;  and  Le 
Clerc  had  more  wit  than  learning,  and  less  faith  than  either. 
Judge  Hale  was  strong,  pious,  and  nervous  ;  Nelson  genteel,  zea- 
lous, and  instructive  ;  Leslie,  against  the  Jews  and  Deists,  was 
demonstrative ;  Kettlewell,  wonderfully  pious  and  devout ;  and 
Hickes's  Letters  against  the  Papists  unanswerable.  Among  his  old 
friends,  the  Dissenters,  Mr  Wesley  mentions  Richard  Baxter,  whom 
he  had  heard  preach,  and  whose  practical  writings,  as  well  as  ser- 
mons, had  a  strange  fire  and  pathos  ;  Dr  Annesley,  a  man  of  great 
piety  and  of  very  good  learning  ;  Charnock,  diffuse  and  lax,  but 
very  good  ;  Howe,  close,  strong,  and  metaphysical ;  Alsop,  merry 
and  witty ;  Bates,  polite  and  polished ;  Williams,  orthodox  and 
possessed  of  good  sense,  especially  that  of  getting  money  ;  Calamy, 
whose  style  is  not  amiss  ;  Bradbury,  who  is  fire  and  feather ;  Bur- 
gess, who  had  more  sense  than  he  made  use  of ;  Shower,  polite ; 
Cruso,  unhappy ;  Owen,  a  gentleman  and  a  scholar ;  Matthew 
Henry,  commended  for  his  laborious  work  on  the  Old  Testament  ; 
and  Clarkson,  Tillotson's  tutor,  who  knew  more  about  the  Fathers 
than  all  the  Dissenters  put  together. 

After  going  through  this  long  list  of  authors,  with  whose  writ- 
ings he  was  himself  more  or  less  acquainted,  Mr  Wesley  takes  up 
the  fifth  section  of  his  pamphlet — viz.,  Preaching  ;  and  says  here 
"  he  ought  to  blush  for  pretending  to  give  rules  for  that  wherein 
he  was  never  master,  but  it  is  far  easier  to  direct  than  it  is  to 
practise."  First,  he  advises  his  curate  to  prepare  a  course  of  ser- 
mons on  all  the  principles  of  religion,  so  as  to  comprise,  as  near 
as  may  be,  the  whole  body  of  divinity.  He  then  proceeds  to  say 
— "I  sincerely  hate  what  some  call  a  fine  sermon,  with  just 
nothing  in  it.  I  cannot  for  ray  life  help  thinking  that  it  is  very 
like  our  fashionable  poetry — a  mere  polite  nothing."  He  recom- 
mends that  the  divisions  of  a  sermon  be  not  too  long,  or  too 
many ;  that  its  illustrations  be  proper  and  lively,  its  proofs  close 
and  pointed,  its  motives  strong  and  cogent,  and  its  inferences  and 
application  natural,  and  yet  laboured  with  all  the  force  of  sacred 
eloquence.  He  also  recommends  a  prudent,  occasional  mixture  of 
controversial  sermons  against  papists,  sectaries,  and  heretics  ;  and 
that  the  curate,  instead  of  reading  his  sermons,  should  repeat 
them  from  memory.  He  advises  him  to  preach  suitable  sermons 
in  every  year,  on  November  5th,  January  30th,  May  29th,  and 
August  1st. 


AGE  78.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEARS.  387 

In  reference  to  "  Catechising,"  he  says,  the  curate  will  have 
assistance  from  the  j)ious  and  careful  schoolmaster,  in  whose  house 
he  will  live.  He  thinks  that  catechising  had  much  to  do  with  the 
speedy  and  wide  propagation  of  the  Eeformed  religion,  and  ha^ 
little  hope  that  the  Church  of  England  will  maintain  its  position 
if  this  be  neglected.  He  exj)resses  the  opinion  that  catechising 
should  not  be  confined  to  the  season  of  Lent  only,  but  should  be 
practised  at  evening  service  on  all  Sundays  and  holidays ;  and 
that  when  the  children  have  been  made  perfect  in  the  ordinary 
church  catechism,  they  should  be  taught  some  larger  one.  He 
himself  had  adopted  this  j^lan,  using,  as  his  second  catechism, 
that  published  by  Bishoi)  Beveridge. 

As  to  the  administration  of  the  Sacraments,  he  hopes  that  the 
curate  will  succeed  in  doing  what  he  had  never  been  able  to  do 
himself — viz.,  getting  the  godfathers  and  godmothers  at  baptisms 
to  repeat  the  responses.  The  greatest  struggle  of  his  ministerial 
life  at  Epworth,  had  been  to  jDrevail  with  the  people  to  bring 
their  children  to  church  for  public  baptism,  and  their  wives  to 
be  churched.  In  many  instances,  parents  deferred  the  baptism  of 
their  children  so  long  that  they  brought  such  monsters  of  men- 
children  to  the  font  as  were  almost  enough  to  break  his  arms 
while  holding  them,  and  whose  manful  voices  were  enough  to  dis- 
turb and  alarm  the  whole  congregation.  This  was  an  evil  which 
ought  to  be  set  right.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  administered  in 
Epworth  Church  once  a  month,  and  a  collection  made,  at  which 
Mr  Wesley,  for  the  sake  of  example,  always  gave  something  him- 
self. This  sacrament  money,  when  entered  in  the  church  book, 
was  kept  in  the  box  appointed  for  it,  with  three  canonical  locks 
and  keys,  one  of  the  keys  being  held  by  the  rector ;  three-fourths 
of  the  money  were  paid  for  the  children  at  the  charity  school,  and 
the  remainder  put  into  the  bank  for  such  poor  sick  people  as  had 
no  constant  relief  from  the  parish,  and  who  came  to  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

The  enforcement  of  Discipline  was  not  the  least  difficult  task. 
He  requests  that  the  curate  will  direct  the  churchwardens  to  en- 
force the  ninetieth  canon,  and  diligently  see  that  all  the  parish- 
ioners resort  to  church,  and  not  stay  idling  in  the  churchyard  or 
porch  ;  and  that  he  keep  the  churchwardens  themselves  from  the 
alehouse  during  divine  service.  He  states  that  he  had  always 
brought  to  public  penance  anti-nuptial  and  no-nuptial  fornicators. 


388  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

He  advises  that  there  be  no  disputations  with  Dissenters,  for  when 
he  first  came  to  Epworth  he  had  practised  this,  but  his  opponents 
always  outfaced  and  outlunged  him,  and,  at  the  end,  they  were 
just  where  they  were  at  the  beginning. 

Mr  Wesley  then  concludes  by  saying,  that  he  had  spent  some 
weeks  in  writing  "this  tedious  and  most  unfashionable  letter;" 
and  adds,  "  Go  on  in  the  way  of  duty.  I  hope  there  will  be  no 
dispute  between  us,  but  who  shall  run  fastest  and  fairest ;  and  if 
I  am  distanced,  I  will  limp  after  you  as  fast  as  I  can  with  such  a 
weight." 

Such  are  the  salient  points  and  facts  in  Mr  "Wesley's  letter  to  a 
young  clergyman.  John  Wesley  acted  upon  some  of  its  advices 
in  Georgia  with  respect  to  visiting  and  catechising,  and  strongly 
urged  the  same  upon  his  first  itinerants  ;  and  George  Whitefield 
acknowledged,  in  1737,  that  the  letter  had  been  of  service  to  him- 
self.* 

Thus  did  Mr  Wesley  labour  to  benefit  the  church  and  to  bless 
mankind.  Meanwhile,  as  usual,  he  was  struggling  with  embar- 
rassments, and  with  no  ordinary  trials.  Mrs  Wesley,  in  1721, 
states  that  she  was  rarely  in  health,  and  Mr  Wesley  began  to 
suffer  from  the  infirmities  of  age.  Emily  had  been  compelled  to 
become  a  teacher  in  a  boarding-school ;  Sukey  had  been  married 
to  a  man  little  better  than  a  fiend  ;  other  children  were  at  home, 
wanting  neither  industry  nor  capacity  for  business  ;  but  the 
parents  could  do  nothing  for  them.  The  eldest  daughter  was 
absent,  the  second  ruined,  and  all  the  rest  in  great  distress.  The 
parsonage  was  not  half  furnished,  nor  the  family  half  clothed, 
but  amid  all,  the  venerable  man  was  patient,  and  his  wife  loving. 
"  Did  I  not  know,"  she  writes,  "  that  Almighty  wisdom  hath 
views  and  ends  in  fixing  the  bounds  of  our  habitation,  which  are 
out  of  our  ken,  I  should  think  it  a  thousand  pities  that  a  man 
of  his  brightness,  and  rare  endowments  of  learning  and  useful 
knowledge,  in  relation  to  the  Church  of  God,  should  be  confined 
to  an  obscure  corner  of  the  country,  where  his  talents  are  buried, 
and  he  determined  to  a  way  of  life  for  which  he  is  not  so  well 
qualified  as  I  could  wish." 

In  the  midst  of  all  this,  he  obtained,  in  1726,  the  small  rectory 
of  Wroot,  about  five  miles  from  Epworth,  and  here  he  sometimes 
resided,  but  this  added  but  little  to  his  domestic  comforts,  as  the 

*  Methodist  Magazine,  1798,  p-  35. 


AGE  73.]  THE  LAST  TWENTY  YEAES.  389 

profits  barely  covered  the  expenses  of  serving  it.*  Even  as  late  as 
1821,  the  number  of  houses  in  the  parish  were  not  more  than 
fifty-four,  and  contained  a  population  of  only  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five,  -f-  The  church,  in  the  days  of  Wesley,  was  a  small 
brick  building,  having,  however,  some  ancient  sepulchral  monu- 
ments.|  The  parsonage-house  was  covered  with  a  roof  of  thatch, 
the  country  round  about  was  little  better  than  a  swamp,  and  the 
inhabitants  are  thus  described  by  the  gifted  pen  of  Mehetabel 
Wesley  in  lines  addressed  to  her  sister  Emilia  : — 

"  Fortune  has  fixed  thee  in  a  place 
Debarred  of  wisdom,  wit,  and  grace — 
High  births  and  virtue  equally  they  scorn. 
As  asses  dull,  on  dunghills  born  ; 
Impervious  as  the  stones,  their  heads  are  found; 
Their  rage  and  hatred  steadfast  as  the  ground. 
With  these  unpolished  wights,  thy  youthful  days 
Glide  slow  and  dull,  and  Nature's  lamp  decays  : 
Oh  what  a  lamp  is  hid,  'midst  such  a  sordid  race  !  "  § 

Mr  Wesley  wished  his  son,  John,  to  become  his  curate  at 
Wroot,  and,  for  a  time,  he  officiated  in  that  capacity  ;\  but,  in 
1729,  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  duties  there,  in  order  to 
fulfil  the  office  of  Moderator  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford.  || 

*  Mr  Kirk  says  the  living  of  Wroot  is  now  worth  £400  a  year  with  residence. 

+  Stonehouse's  History  of  Axholme.  +  Ibid. 

§  Clarke's  Wesley  Family.  11  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  149. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

LETTERS — 1725-1735, 

It  lias  often  been  said  that,  generally  speaking,  there  is  nothing 
which  develops  a  man'^s  character  so  much  as  his  own  private 
letters  to  his  friends.  Hitherto  we  have  made  sparing  use  of  Mr 
Wesley's  correspondence,  and  hence,  that  the  reader  may  have  an 
opportunity,  by  means  of  such  a  test,  to  form  his  own  opinion  re- 
specting this  venerable  man,  we  devote  this  chapter  entirely  to  his 
"  letters."  All  the  letters  inserted  here  were  written  within  the  last 
eleven  years  of  his  eventful  life,— many  of  them  have  been  pre- 
viously published  ;  but,  with  respect  to  others,  this  is  the  first  time 
that  they  have  been  submitted  to  the  public  eye.  A  few  notes 
may  be  useful ;  but,  with  this  exception,  the  chapter  will  consist 
entirely  of  letters.  The  chapter  is  long,  but  the  writer  flatters 
himself  that  the  reader  will  thank  him  for  it. 

To  HIS  Son  John. 

"  Weoot, /a?z.  26,1724-5. 

"  I)"EAE  Son, — I  am  SO  well  pleased  with  your  decent  behaviour, 
or,  at  least,  with  your  letters,  that  I  hope  I  shall  have  no  occasion 
to  remember  some  things  that  are  past.  Since  you  have  now,  for 
some  time,  bit  upon  the  bridle,  I  will  take  care  hereafter  to  put 
little  honey  upon  it  as  oft  as  I  am  able  ;  but  then  it  shall  be  of  my 
own  mere  motion,  as  the  last  £5  was  ;  for  I  will  bear  no  rival  in 
my  kingdom. 

"I  did  not  forget  you,  neither  Dr  M.;*  but  have  moved  that 

*  Probably  Dr  Morley,  Rector  of  Lincoln  College.  John  Wesley,  at  this  time, 
was  embarrassed  for  want  of  money.  Three  weeks  before,  his  father  had  sent  him 
£5,  and  had  promised  further  kindness.  (MS.  letter ;  see  also  Wesley's  Worlcs, 
vol.  xii.  p.  16.) 


AGE  63.]  LETTEES.  891 

way  as  much  as  possible  ;  though,  I  must  confess,  hitherto  with  no 
great  prospect  of  success. 

"  As  to  what  you  mention  of  entering  into  holy  orders,*  it  is  in- 
deed a  great  work.  I  am  pleased  to  find  you  think  it  so — as  well 
that  you  don't  admire  a  callow  clergyman  any  more  than  I  do.  As 
to  the  motives  you  take  notice  of,  it  is  no  harm  to  desire  getting 
into  that  office,  even  with  Eli's  sons,  '  to  get  a  piece  of  bread ; '  for 
'  the  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire  ; '  though  a  desire  and  intention 
to  lead  a  stricter  life,  and  a  belief  one  should  do  so,  is  a  better 
reason.  But  this  should  by  all  means  be  begun  before,  or  else,  ten 
to  one,  it  will  deceive  us  afterwards.  If  a  man  be  unwillina;  and 
undesirous  to  enter  into  orders,  it  is  easy  to  guess  whether  he  can 
say,  with  commou  honesty,  that  he  believes  he  is  moved  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  do  it.  But  the  principal  spring  and  motive,  to 
which  all  the  former  should  be  secondary,  must  certainly  be  the 
glory  of  God,  the  service  of  His  Church,  with  the  edification  of  our 
neighbour  ;  and  woe  to  him  who,  with  any  meaner  leading  view, 
attempts  so  sacred  a  work  ;  for  which  he  should  take  all  the  care 
he  possibly  can,  with  the  advice  of  wiser  and  elder  men,  especially 
imploring,  with  all  humility,  sincerity,  and  intention  of  mind,  with 
fasting  and  prayer,  the  direction  and  assistance  of  Almighty  God 
and  His  Holy  Spirit,  to  qualify  and  prepare  himself  for  it. 

"  The  knowledge  of  the  languages  is  a  considerable  help  in  this 
matter,  which,  I  thank  God,  all  my  three  sons  have,  to  a  very 
laudable  degree  ;  though  God  knows,  I  had  never  more  than  a 
smattering  of  them.  But  then,  this  must  be  prosecuted  to  the 
thorough  understanding  the  original  text  of  the  sacred  Scriptures 
by  intent  and  long  conversing  with  them. 

"You  ask  me  which  is  the  best  commentary  on  the  Bible  ?  The 
several  paraphrases  and  translations  of  it,  in  the  Polyglott,  com- 
pared with  the  original,  and  with  one  another,  are,  in  my  opinion, 
to  an  honest,  devout,  industrious,  humble  mind,  infinitely  prefer- 
able to  any  commentary  I  ever  saw  written  upon  it ;  though  Gro- 
tius  is  the  best,  (for  the  most  part,)  especially  on  the  Old  Testament. 
Compare  the  Hebrew  Bible,  the  Vulgate,  and  the  Samaritan  in  the 
Polyglott,  in  the  morning.  In  the  afternoons,  which  you  will ;  but 
be  sure  to  walk  an  hour,  if  fair,  in  the  fields.  Get  Thirleby's 
"  Ohrysostom  de   Sacerdotio."     Master  it ;  digest  it.     Some  ad- 

*  John  Wesley  was  now  thinking  of  entering  into  deacon's  orders.  He  was 
ordained  deacon  in  the  month  of  September  following. 


892  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l725. 

vices  I  drew  up  for  Mr  Hoole,  my  curate,  may  not  be  unuseful  to 
you.     Pray  let  no  one  but  yourself  see  them. 

"  By  all  this  you  see  I  am  not  for  your  going  over-hastily  into 
orders.  When  I  am  for  your  taking  them,  you  shall  know  ;  and 
it  is  not  impossible  but  I  may  then  be  with  you,  if  God  so  long 
spare  my  life  and  health. 

"  I  like  your  verses  on  the  85th  Psalm.  I  would  not  have  you 
bmy  your  talent.  All  are  well.  Work  and  write  while  you  can. 
You  see  Time  has  shaken  me  by  the  hand,  and  Death  is  but  a  little 
behind  him.  My  eyes  and  heart  are  now  almost  all  I  have  left ; 
and  I  bless  God  for  them. — Your  affectionate  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."  * 

A  month  after  the  above  was  written,  Susannah  Wesley  addressed 
her  son  on  the  same  subject.     The  following  is  an  extract : — 

"  February  23,  1725. 

"  Dear  Jacky, — I  was  much  pleased  with  your  letter  to  your 
father  about  taking  orders,  and  like  the  proposal  well ;  but  it  is  an 
uuhappiness  almost  peculiar  to  our  family,  that  your  father  and  I 
seldom  think  alike.  I  approve  the  disposition  of  your  mind,  and 
think  the  sooner  you  are  a  deacon  the  better  ;  because  it  may  be 
an  inducement  to  greater  application  in  the  study  of  practical  divi- 
nity, which  I  humbly  conceive  is  the  best  study  for  candidates  for 
orders.  Mr  W^esley  differs  from  me,  and  would  engage  you,  I  be- 
lieve, in  critical  learning,  which,  though  accidentally  of  use,  is  in 
nowise  preferable  to  the  other.  I  earnestly  pray  God  to  avert  that 
greater  evil  from  you  of  engaging  in  trifling  studies,  to  the  neglect 
of  such  as  are  absolutely  necessary.  I  dare  advise  nothing.  God 
Almighty  direct  and  bless  you  !     Adieu  '"-f- 

Mrs  Wesley  seems  to  have  influenced  her  husband,  and  to  have 
induced  him  to  change  his  mind.  Hence  the  following  unpub- 
lished letter,  written  within  three  weeks  after  the  foregoino; : — 


*  This  letter  is  copied  from  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  original,  in  the  hand- 
writing of  John  Wesley.  Part  of  it  was  published  in  the  Arminian  Magazine,  for 
1778,  p.  29  ;  and  also  in  Coke  and  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  p.  47;  but  the  reader 
will  perceive,  that,  in  the  letter  as  now  given,  there  are  several  interesting  facts 
a  ad    tatements,  omitted  in  both  the  works  just  mentioned. 

t  The  letter  from  which  this  is  taken,  I  believe,  has  never  been  published. 


AGE  63.]  LETTEKS.  393 

"Wroot,  March  13,  1724-5. 

"  Deae  Son, — I  have  both  yours  ;  and  have  changed  my  mind 
since  my  last.  I  now  incline  to  yonr  going  this  summer  into 
orders,  and  would  have  you  turn  your  thoughts  and  studies  that 
way.  But,  in  the  first  place,  if  you  love  yourself,  or  me,  pray 
heartily.  I  will  struggle  hard,  but  I  will  get  money  for  your 
orders,  and  something  more.  Mr  Downes  has  spoken  to  Dr  Mor- 
ley  about  you,  who  says  he  will  inquire  of  your  character. 

"  '  Trust  in  the  Lord,  and  do  good,  and  verily  thou  shalt  be  fed.' 

"  This  with  blessing,  from  your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley." 

A  visit  to  Wroot  by  Samuel  Wesley,  jun.,  led  to  a  short  post- 
ponement of  John's  ordination.  The  following  letter,  hitherto 
unpublished,  refers  to  this  : — 

"  Weoot,  May  10,  1725. 
"  Dear  Son, — Your  brother  Samuel,  with  his  wife  and  child,  are 
here.  I  did  what  I  could  that  you  might  have  been  in  orders  this 
Trinity  ;  but  I  doubt  your  brother's  journey  hither  has,  for  the 
present,  disconcerted  our  plans  ;  though  you  will  have  more  time 
to  prepare  yourself  for  ordination,  which  I  pray  God  you  may,  as 
I  am,  your  loving  father,  "  Samuel  Wesley." 

Part  of  the  following  letter  was  printed  in  the  first  volume  of 
the  Arminian  Magazine,  p.  30,  but,  in  the  original  manuscript, 
all  allusions  to  John  Wesley's  position  and  prospects  are  omitted. 
The  subjoined  is  an  exact  and  full  copy  : — 

"Wroot, /mZ;/ 14,  1725. 

"  Deae  Son, — It  is  not  for  want  of  affection  that  I  am  some 
letters  in  your  debt ;  but  because  I  could  not  yet  answer  them,  so 
as  to  satisfy  myself  or  you ;  though  I  hope  still  to  do  it  in  a  few 
weeks. 

"  As  for  Thomas  a  Kempis,  all  the  world  are  apt  to  strain 
for  one  or  the  other.  And  it  is  no  wonder  if  contemplative 
men,  especially  when  wrapt  in  a  cowl,  and  the  darkness  of  the 
sceptical  divinity,  and  near  akin,  if  I  mistake  not,  to  the  obscure 
ages,  when  they  observed  the  bulk  of  the  world  so  mad  for  sensual 
pleasures,  should  run  into  the  contrary  extreme,  and  attempt  to 


804  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEy.  [l725, 

persuade  us  to  have  no  senses  at  all,  or  that  God  made  them  to  very 
little  purpose.  But  for  all  that,  mortification  is  still  an  indispen- 
sable Christian  duty.  The  world  is  a  syren,  and  we  must  have  a 
care  of  her.  And  if  the  young  man  will  '  rejoice  in  his  youth,'  yet 
it  would  not  be  amiss  for  him  to  take  care  that  his  joys  be  mode- 
rate and  innocent ;  and,  in  order  to  this,  sadly  to  remember  '  that 
for  all  these  things  God  will  bring  him  to  judgment.'  I  have  only 
this  to  add  of  my  friend  and  old  companion,  that,  making  a  pretty 
man  grains  of  allowance,  he  may  be  read  to  great  advantage,  and 
that,  notwithstanding  all  his  superstition  and  enthusiasm,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  peruse  him  seriously,  without  admiring,  and, 
I  think,  in  some  measure  imitating  his  heroic  strains  of  humility, 
and  piety,  and  devotion.  But  I  reckon,  you  have  before  this  re- 
ceived your  mother's,  who  has  leisure  to  write,  and  can  do  so 
without  pain,  which  I  cannot. 

"  I  will  write  to  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  again.  You  shall  not 
want  a  black  coat  as  soon  as  I  have  any  white. 

"  You  may  transcribe  any  part  of  my  letter  to  Mr  Hoole,  but 
not  the  whole,  for  your  own  private  use  ;  neither  lend  it ;  but  any 
friend  may  read  it  in  your  chamber.  Master  St  Chrysostom,  and 
the  Articles,  and  the  Form  of  Ordination.  Bear  up  stoutly  against 
the  world,  &c.  Keep  a  good,  an  honest,  and  a  pious  heart.  Pray 
hard,  and  watch  hard  ;  and  I  am  persuaded  your  quarantine  is 
almost  at  an  end,  and  all  shall  be  well :  however,  nothing  shall  be 
wanting  to  make  it  so,  that  is  in  the  power  of,  your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley." 

The  following  unpublished  letter  to  his  son  John,  after  referring 
to  a  painful  family  occurrence,  goes  on  to  say  : — 

"  Wroot,  August  2,  1725. 

"  I  was  at  Gainsborough  last  week,  to  wait  on  Sir  J.  Thorold, 
and  shall  again,  by  God's  leave,  be  there  to-morrow,  and  endeavour 
to  make  way  for  you  from  that  quarter. 

"  As  to  the  gentlemen  candidates  you  write  of,  does  anybody 
think  the  devil  is  dead,  or  so  much  as  asleep,  or  that  he  has  no 
agents  left  ?  Surely  virtue  can  bear  being  laughed  at.  The  Cap- 
tain and  Master  endured  something  more  for  us,  before  He  entered 
into  glory ;  and  unless  we  track  His  steps,  in  vain  do  we  hope  to 
share  that  glory  with  Him.     Nor  shall  any  who  sincerely  endeavour 


AGE  63.]  LETTEES.  ,  39  5 

to  serve  Him,  either  in  turning  others  to  righteousness,  or  keeping 
them  steadfast  in  it,  lose  their  reward.  Nor  can  you  have  better 
directions,  (except  Timothy  and  Titus,)  than  Chrysostora  de  Sacer- 
dotio,  and  the  Form  of  Ordination.  And  God  forbid  that  I  should 
ever  cease  to  pray  for  you  ! — Your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley." 

The  following  to  his  son  John  was  accompanied  with  a  certifi- 
cate of  birth  and  baptism  : — 

"  Wroot,  Augmt  21,  1725. 
"  Deae  Son, — Thanks  be  to  God  !  we  are  all  well.     I  send  the 
certificate  on  the  other  side,  and  will  be  soon  with  Mr  Downes  at 
Dr  Morley's.     You  need  not  show  the  other  side,  unless  it  is  asked 
for.     Say  you  are  in  the  23d  current, — Your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley." 

The  next  letter  also  has  never  yet  been  published.  Both  Samuel 
Wesley  and  his  son  John,  at  this  time,  were  in  great  distress  for 
want  of  money. 

"Bawtky,  Sept.  1,  1725. 

"  Deae  Son, — I  came  hither  to-day,  because  I  cannot  be  at  rest, 
till  I  make  you  easier.  I  could  not  possibly  manufacture  any  money 
for  you  here,  sooner  than  next  Saturday."  On  Monday  I  design  to 
wait  on  Dr  Morley,  and  will  try  to  prevail  with  your  brother  to 
return  you  £8,  with  interest.  I  will  assist  you  in  the  charges  for 
ordination,  though  I  am  myself  just  now  struggling  for  life.  This 
£8  you  may  depend  on  the  next  week,  or  the  week  after. 

"  I  like  your  way  of  thinking  and  arguing  \  and  yet  must  say,  I 
am  a  little  afraid  on  it.  He  that  believes  and  yet  argues  against 
reason,  is  half  a  Papist,  or  enthusiast.  He  that  would  make  Reve- 
lation bend  to  his  own  shallow  reason  is  either  half  a  Deist  or  a 
heretic.  0  my  dear  !  steer  clear  between  this  Scylla  and  Charybdis. 
God  will  bless  you ;  and  you  shall  ever  be  beloved,  as  you  will 
ever  be  a  comfort  to,  your  affectionate  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley." 

"  P./S. — If  you  have  any  scruples  about  any  j)art  of  Revelation, 
or  the  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  which  I  think  exactly 
agreeable  to  it,  I  can  answer  them." 


39g  the  life  and  times  of  samuel  wesley.  [l725. 

Another  to  the  Same. 

"Gainsborough,  Sept.  7,  1725. 

"  Dear  Son  John, — With  much  ado  you  see  I  am  for  once  as 
good  as  my  word.  Carry  Dr  Morley's  note  to  the  Bursar.  I  hope 
to  send  you  more,  and  believe  by  the  same  hand.  God  fit  you  for 
your  great  work  !  Fast — watch — pray — believe — love — endure — 
be  happy.  Towards  which  you  shall  never  want  the  ardent  prayers 
of,  your  affectionate  father,  "  Samuel  Wesley."* 


John  Wesley  was  ordained  deacon  on  Sunday,  the  1 9th  of  Sep- 
tember 1725,  by  Dr  Potter,  then  Bishop  of  Oxford.-}-  The  day 
after  his  ordination  he  wrote  to  his  father,  and  the  following  is 
his  father's  reply  : — 

"  Weoot,  Oct.  19,  1725. 

"  Dear  Son, — I  had  yours  of  the  20th  ult,  with  the  welcome 
news  that  you  were  in  deacon's  orders.  I  pray  God  you  may  so 
improve  in  them,  as  to  be  in  due  time  fit  for  a  higher  station. 

"  If  you  gave  any  occasion  for  what  is  said  of  you  at  L , 

you  must  bear  it  patiently,  if  not  joyfully.  But  be  sure  never  to 
return  the  like  treatment.  I  have  done  what  I  could,  do  you  the 
same  ;  and  rest  the  whole  on  Providence. 

''  The  hard  words  in  yours  are  of  the  same  nature  with  an  ana- 
thema, whose  point  is  levelled  against  obstinate  heretics.  But  is 
not  even  schism  a  work  of  the  flesh,  and  therefore  damnable? 
And  yet  is  there  not  a  distinction  between  what  is  wilful,  and 
what  may  be  in  some  measure  involuntary?  God  knows,  and 
doubtless  will  make  a  difference.  We  do  not  so  well  know  it,  and 
therefore  must  leave  it  to  Him,  and  keep  to  the  rules  He  has  given 
us. 

"  As  to  the  main  of  the  cause,  the  best  way  to  deal  with  your 
adversaries  is,  to  turn  the  war  and  their  own  vaunted  arms  against 
them.  From  balancing  the  schemes,  it  would  appear  that  there 
are  many  irreconcilable  absurdities  and  traditions  in  theirs,  v/ith 
none  such,  though  indeed  some  difficulties,  in  ours.  To  instance 
but  one  of  a  side.  They  can  never  prove  a  contradiction  in  our 
Three  and  One,  unless  we  affirmed  them  to  be  so  in  the  same  re- 
spect, which  every  child  knows  we  do  not.     We  can  prove  there 

*  MS.  letter.  +  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  134. 


AGE  63.]  LETTERS.  897 

is  a  contradiction  in  a  creature's  being  a  Creator,  which  they  as- 
sert of  our  Lord. 

"  If  you  turn  your  thoughts  and  studies  this  way,  you  may  do 
God  and  His  Church  good  service.  To  His  blessing  and  protec- 
tion I  commit  you ;  and  am,  your  loving  father, 

"Samuel  Wesley." 

All  the  foregoing  letters  refer,  less  or  more,  to  John  Wesley  be- 
ing ordained  a  deacon,  and,  on  that  account,  are  not  without  in- 
terest. Some  of  them,  up  to  the  present,  have  never  appeared  in 
print ;  and  the  remainder,  with  one  exception,  have  never  been 
published  in  full  as  they  are  published  here.  The  young  deacon 
was  still  embarrassed  for  want  of  money,  and  his  father  was  at 
his  wit's  end  how  to  serve  him.  Hence  another  letter,  the  last  we 
shall  give  for  the  year  1 725  : — 

"Wkoot,  Nov.  30,  1725. 
"  Son  John, — You  see,  by  the  enclosed,  that  I  am  not  unmind- 
ful of  you.     All  I  can  do  for  you,  (and  God  knows  more  than  I 
can  honestly  do,)  is  to  give  you  credit  with  Eichard  Ellison  for 
£10  next  Lady-Day, 

"  Nothing  else  from  your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."  * 

Subjoined  are  four  letters  written  in  the  year  1726.  Those 
dated  March  21st  and  April  17th,  have  not  before  been  pub- 
lished.    The  whole  of  them  were  addressed  to  John  Wesley. 

"  January  26,  1726. 

"  Dear  Son, — The  providence  of  God  has  engaged  me  in  a 
work,  wherein  you  may  be  very  assistant  to  me,  promote  the  glory 
of  God,  and,  at  the  same  time,  notably  forward  your  own  studies. 

"  I  have  sometime  since  designed  an  edition  of  the  holy  Bible 
in  octavo,  in  the  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Septuagint,  and  Vulgate  ;  and 
have  made  some  progress  in  it.  I  have  not  time  at  present  to 
give  you  the  whole  scheme,  of  which  scarce  any  soul  knows  ex- 
cept your  brother  Sam. 

"  What  I  desire  of  you  is,  first,  that  you  would  immediately  fall 
to  work,  and  read  diligently  the  Hebrew  text  in  the  Polyglott,  and 

*  MS.  letter. 


398  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l726. 

collate  it  exactly  with  the  Vulgate,  writing  all,  even  the  least,  varia- 
tions or  differences  between  them. 

"  Second,  To  these  I  would  have  you  add  the  Samaritan  text, 
which  is  the  very  same  with  the  Hebrew,  except  in  some  very  few 
places,  differing  only  in  the  Samaritan  character,  which  I  think 
is  the  true  old  Hebrew. 

"  You  may  learn  the  Samaritan  aljihabet  in  a  day,  either  from 
the  Prolegomena  in  Walton's  Polyglott,  or  from  his  grammar.  In 
a  twelvemonth's  time,  sticking  close  to  it  in  the  forenoons,  you 
will  get  twice  through  the  Pentateuch ;  for  I  have  done  it  four 
times  the  last  year,  and  am  going  over  it  the  fifth,  and  also  collat- 
ing the  two  Greek  versions,  the  Alexandrian  and  the  Vatican, 
with  what  I  can  get  of  Symmachus  and  Theodotian,  &c.  You 
shall  not  lose  your  reward,  either  in  this  or  the  other  world.  Nor 
are  your  brothers  like  to  be  idle ;  but  I  would  have  nothing  said 
of  it  to  anybody,  though  your  brother  Sam  shall  write  to  you 
shortly  about  it."  * 

What  the  full  extent  of  Mr  Wesley's  scheme  was,  we  are  not 
able  to  learn ;  but  probably  it  was  the  publication,  on  a  wide 
basis,  of  a  Polyglott  Bible. 

John  Wesley  was  elected  Pellow  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  on 
the  17th  of  March  1726.  Four  days  afterwards,  his  father  wrote 
the  following  short  letter  : — ■ 

"  Weoot,  March  21,  1726. 

"  Dear  Mr  Pellow  Elect  op  Lincoln, — I  have  done  more 
than  I  could  for  you.  On  your  waiting  on  Dr  Morley  with  this  he 
will  pay  you  £12.  You  are  inexpressibly  obliged  to  that  generous 
man.     We  are  all  as  well  as  can  be  expected.     Your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley,  "f 

It  was  no  trifle  for  this  venerable  man  to  meet  the  moderate 
expenses  incurred  by  his  son  John  at  the  Oxford  University. 
Hence  the  following  : — 

"  Wroot,  April  1,  1726. 

"  Dear  Son  John, — I  had  both  yours  since  the  election.  In 
both  you  express  yourself  as  becomes  you  for  what  I  had  willingly, 
though  with  much  greater  difficulty  than  you  imagine,  done  for 

*  Whitehead's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  22 ;  also  Clarke's  Wesley  Family,  vol.  i. 
p.  296.  t  MS.  letter. 


AGE  64.]  LETTERS.  399 

you;  for  the  last  £12  pinched  me  so  hard,  that  I  am  forced  to 
beg  time  of  your  brother  Sam,  till  after  harvest,  to  pay  him  the 
£]  0  that  you  say  he  lent  you.  Nor  shall  I  have  so  much  as  that, 
(perhaps  not  £5)  to  keep  my  family  till  after  harvest ;  and  I  do 
not  expect  that  I  shall  be  able  to  do  anything  for  Charles  when 
he  goes  to  the  University.  What  will  be  my  own  fate,  God 
knows,  before  this  summer  be  over.  Sed  j^cissi  graviora.  Wher- 
ever I  am,  my  Jack  is  Fellow  of  Lincoln  ! 

"  Yet  all  this,  and  perhaps  worse  than  you  know,  has  not  made 
me  forget  you ;  for  I  wrote  to  Dr  King,  desiring  leave  for  you  to 
come  one,  two,  or  three  months  into  the  country,  where  you 
should  be  gladly  welcome. 

"  As  for  advice,  keep  your  best  friend  fast ;  and,  next  to  him, 
Dr  Morley ;  and  have  a  care  of  your  other  friends,  especially  the 
younger.     All  at  present  from  your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley." 

Sixteen  days  after  this  Mr  Wesley  wrote  to  his  son  again,  as 
follows : — 

"  April  17,  1726. 

"  Dear  Son, — I  hope  Sander  will  be  with  you  by  Wednesday 
noon,  with  the  horses,  books,  and  bags,  and  this.  I  got  your 
mother  to  write  the  enclosed,  (for  you  see  I  can  hardly  scrawl,*) 
because  it  was  possible  it  might  come  to  hand  on  Tuesday ;  but 
my  head  was  so  full  of  cares  that  I  forgot  on  Saturday  last-  to  put 
it  into  the  post  house.  I  should  be  very  glad  to  see  you,  though 
but  for  a  day ;  but  much  more  for  a  quarter  of  a  year.  I  think 
you  will  make  what  haste  you  can.  I  design  to  be  at  the  Crown 
in  Bawtry  on  Saturday  se'ennight.  God  bless  and  send  you  a 
prosperous  journey  to  your  affectionate  father, 

"Samuel  WESLEY."f 

John  Wesley  came  to  his  father's  a  few  days  after  the  date  of 
the  above  letter,  and  spent  the  summer  at  Epworth  and  at  Wroot. 
Here  he  usually  read  prayers,  and  preached  twice  every  Sabbath  ; 
and,  in  various  ways,  assisted  the  venerable  rector.  He  still  pur- 
sued his  studies,  and  had  frequent  opportunities  of  conversing 
with  his  parents,  and  kept  a  regular  diary  of  what  transpired. 
*  His  right. hand  was  already  palsied.  t  MS.  letter. 


-iOO  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l727. 

He  takes  notice  of  the  particular  subjects  discussed  in  their  vari- 
ous conversations,  and  among  others  mentions  the  following :  how 
to  increase  our  faith,  our  hope,  and  our  love  of  God  ;  prudence 
simplicity,  sincerity,  pride,  and  vanity ;  wit,  humour,  fancy,  cour- 
tesy, and  general  usefulness.  He  returned  to  Oxford  on  the  21st 
of  September  ;  and,  on  the  7th  of  November  following,  was  chosen 
Greek  lecturer  and  moderator  of  the  classes.* 

We  now  proceed  to  lay  before  the  reader  seven  letters  written 
during  the  year  1727;  the  first,  second,  fourth,  and  seventh  of 
which  are  now  for  the  first  time  published. 

"  Wroot,  June  6,  1727. 

"Son  John, — I  hope  I  may  still  be  able  to  serve  both  my 
cures  this  summer ;  or,  if  not,  die  pleasantly  in  my  last  dike.  If 
that  should  happen,  I  see  no  great  difficulty  in  bringing  your 
pupil  down  with  you,  say  a  quarter  of  a  year,  where  you  may 
both  live  at  least  as  cheap  as  at  Oxford.  I  shall  be  myself  at 
Epworth,  as  soon  as  I  can  get  a  lodging. 

"  This  is  all  to  you  at  present  from  your  humble  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley. "f 

Charles  Wesley  was  now  at  Oxford,  and  the  following  letter 
was  written  to  him  and  his  brother  John  unitedly  : — 

"Bawtry,  June  21,  1727. 

"  Dear  Lads, — This  moment  I  received  the  satisfaction  of 
yours  of  the  ]4tli  inst.  I  had  no  more  reason  to  doubt  your  duty 
to  me,  than  you  have  had  of  mine  to  you  ;  although  I  am  sure 
you  cannot  think  it  proper  there  should  be  two  masters  in  a 
family.  Eead  !  reflect !  You  know  I  cannot  but  love  you ;  if 
you  please,  and  if  you  think  it  worth  your  while  that  an  old  father 
should  love  you. 

"  What  should  I  be,  if  1  did  not  take  your  offer  to  come  down 
soon  ?  But  you  could  not  now  get  from  hence  to  Wroot ;  though 
I  can  make  shift  to  get  from  Wroot  to  Epworth  by  boat ;  and  it 
cannot  be  worse  this  summer.  However,  if  you  have  any  pros- 
pect of  doing  good  to  F n  |  (let  none  of  my  lads  ever  despair,) 

I  beg  you,  for  God's  sake,  to  take  to  him  again  ;  for  how  do  you 

*  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  139.  t  MS.  letter. 

J  Probably  Lewis  Fenton.     See  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  149. 


AGE  65.]  LETTEES.  401 

know,  that  you  may  thereby  save  a  soul  from  death,  and  cover  a 
multitude  of  sins  ?  I  heartily  give  you  this  advice,  and  beg  of 
you,  as  you  love  God,  or  me,  that  you  would  follow  it,  as  far  as  it 
is  practicable.  Once  more,  remember  what  a  soul  is  worth,  as  you 
know  what  price  was  paid  for  it. 

"  I  hope,  in  a  fortnight,  to  be  able  to  walk  to  Epworth.  When 
I  am  tired,  I  will  send  you  word.  If  you  should  come,  it  would 
be  best  to  buy  a  horse  ;  for  I  have  now  ground  enough  to  spare 
for  a  dozen,     I  am  weary. — From  your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."* 

The  above  letter  refers  to  the  difficulty  of  travelling  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Epworth.  The  following,  written  five  days 
later,  alludes  to  the  same  matter : — 

"Weoot,  /ane  2^,1727. 

"  Deae  Son  John, — I  do  not  think  I  have  yet  thanked  you 
enough  for  your  kind  and  dutiful  letter  of  the  14th  inst.,  which  I 
received  at  Bawtry,  last  Wednesday,  and  answered  there  in  a 
hurry ;  yet,  on  reflection,  I  see  no  reason  to  alter  my  mind  much 
as  to  what  I  then  writ ;  but,  if  you  had  any  prospect  of  doing 
good  on  yorir  pupil,  I  should  have  been  pleased  with  your  attempt- 
ing it  some  time  longer.  If  that  is  past,  or  hopeless,  there  is  an 
end  of  the  matter. 

"  "When  you  come  hither,  after  having  taken  care  of  Charter- 
house and  your  own  rector,  your  headquarters  will,  I  believe,  be 
for  the  most  part  at  Wroot,  as  mine,  if  I  can,  at  Epworth, 
though  sometimes  making  an  exchange.  The  truth  is,  I  am 
liipp'd  by  my  voyage  and  journey  to  and  from  Epworth  last  Sun- 
day ;  being  lamed  with  having  my  breeches  too  full  of  Avater, 
partly  with  a  downfall  from  a  thunder  shower,  and  partly  from 
the  wash  over  the  boat.  Yet  I  thank  God  I  was  able  to  preach 
here  in  the  afternoon,  and  was  as  well  this  morning  as  ever, 
except  a  little  pain  and  lameness,  both  of  which  I  hope  to  wash  off 
Avith  a  hair  of  the  same  dog  this  evening. 

"  I  wisli  the  rain  had  not  reached  us  on  this  side  Lincoln ;  but 
we  have  it  so  continual  that  we  have  scarce  one  bank  left,  and  I 
cannot  possibly  have  one  quarter  of  oats  in  all  the  levels ;  but, 
thanks  be  to  God,  the  fields  of  barley  and  rye  are  good.     We  can 

*  MS.  letter. 

2c 


402  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l727. 

neither  go  afoot  nor  on  horseback  to  Epworth,  but  only  by  boat 
as  far  as  Scawsit  Bridge,  and  then  walk  over  the  common,  though 
I  hope  it  will  soon  be  better.  I  would  gladly  send  horses,  but 
don't  think  I  have  now  any  that  would  perform  the  journey ;  for — 
1.  My  filly  has  scarcely  recovered  from  the  last,  and  I  question 
if  she  ever  will.  However,  I  have  turned  her  up  to  the  waggon, 
and  very  seldom  ride  her.  2.  Mettle  is  almost  blind.  8.  Your 
favourite  two-eyed  nag  they  have  taken  to  swing  in  the  back,  and 
he  is  never  like  to  be  good  for  riding  any  more.  4.  And  Bounce 
and  your  mother's  nag,  you  know.  Therefore,  if  you  can  get  a 
pretty  strong  horse,  not  over  fine,  nor  old,  nor  fat,  I  think  it 
would  improve,  especially  in  summer,  and  be  worth  your  while. 
I  would  send  as  far  as  Nottingham  to  meet  you,  but  would  have 
your  studies  as  little  intermitted  as  possible,  and  hope  I  shall  do 
a  month  or  two  longer,  as  I  am  sure  I  ought  to  do  all  I  can  both 
for  God's  family  and  my  own ;  and  when  I  find  it  sinks  me,  or 
perhaps  a  little  before,  I  will  certainly  send  you  word,  with  about 
a  fortnight's  notice  ;  and  in  the  meantime  send  you  my  blessing, 
as  being  your  loving  father,  Samuel  Wesley."  * 

" PS. — Dear  Charles,  were  I  you,  it  should  go  hard  but  I'd  get 
one  of  the  Blenheim  prizes.    Thomas  calls.    Good  night  to  you." 

Nine  days  after,  Mr  Wesley  wrote  again  to  his  two  sons  at 
Oxford.  The  Rev.  Elijah  Hoole,  D.D.,  has  kindly  favoured  me  with 
a  copy  of  the  letter,  which  has  never  been  published  until  now  : — 

"  Wroot,  Jitli/  5, 1727. 
"  Dear  Childeen, — The  reason  why  I  -was  willing  to  delay  my 
son  John's  coming  w-as  his  pupil ;  but  that  i,s  over.  Another 
reason  was  that  I  knew  he  could  not  get  between  Wroot  and 
Epworth  without  hazarding  his  health  or  life ;  whereas  my  hide 
is  tough,  and  I  think  no  carrion  can  kill  me.  I  walked  sixteen 
miles  yesterday,  and  this  morning,  I  thank  God,  I  was  not  a 
penny  worse.  The  occasion  of  this  booted  walk  was  to  hire  a 
room  for  myself  at  Epworth,  which  I  think  I  have  now  achieved." 

(After  this  follows  his  proposal  that  Charles  should  come  to 
Lincolnshire  by  the  carrier.     He  then  proceeds  : — ) 

*  Clarke's  Weslfi/  Family. 


AGE  G5.]  LETTERS.  403 

"  You  will  find  your  mother  much  altered,  I  believe  what  will 
kill  a  cat  h^as  almost  killed  her.  I  have  observed  of  late  little 
convulsions  in  her  very  frequently,  Avhich  I  don't  like. 

"  God  bless  and  guide,  and  send  you  both  a  speedy  and  happy 
meeting  with,  your  loving  father,  Samuel  Wesley." 

The  next  two  letters  were  written  on  the  same  day,  within  a 
fortnight  after  the  former  one.     The  first  refers  to  Mrs  Wesley's 

illness : — 

"  Wroot,  Juhj  18, 1727. 

"Dear  Son  John, — We  received  last  post  your  compliments 
of  condolence  and  congratulation  to  your  mother  on  the  suppo- 
sition of  her  near  approaching  demise ;  to  which  your  sister  Patty 
will  by  no  means  subscribe,  for  she  says  she  is  not  so  good  a 
philosopher  as  you  are,  and  that  she  cannot  spare  her  mother  yet, 
if  it  please  God,  without  great  inconvenience. 

"  And  indeed,  though  she  has  now  and  then  some  very  sick 
fits,  yet  I  hope  the  sight  of  you  will  revive  her.  However, 
when  you  come  you  will  see  a  new  face  of  things,  my  family 
being  now  pretty  well  colonised,  and  all  perfect  harmony ;  much 
happier,  in  no  small  straits,  than  perhaps  we  ever  were  before  in 
our  greatest  affluence  ;  and  you  will  find  a  servant  that  will  make 
us  rich,  if  God  gives  us  anything  to  work  upon,  I  know  not  but 
that  it  may  be  this  prospect,  together  with  my  easiness  in  my 
family  which  keeps  my  spirits  from  sinking,  though  they  tell  me  I 
have  lost  some  of  my  tallow  between  Wroot  and  Epworth  ;  but  that 
I  don't  value,  as  long  as  I  have  strength  left  to  perform  my  office. 

"  If  Charles  can  get  to  London,  I  believe  Hardsley,  at  the  Red 
Lion,  Aldersgate  Street,  might  procure  him  a  horse  as  reasonably 
as  any  to  ride  along  with  you  to  Lincoln.  He  will  also  direct  him 
where  to  leave  it  there  for  the  carrier  to  return.  This  will  be 
the  cheapest  and  the  safest  way ;  and  I  will  warrant  you  will  find 
means  to  bring  Charles  up  again.  Your  own  best  way,  as  in  my 
last,  will  be  to  buy  a  horse  for  yourself  for  the  reasons  I  then 
told  you.     I  am  weary,  but  your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."  * 

"  Wroot,  July  18, 1727. 

"  Dear  Charles, — I  told  you  the  Chaldee  would  be  easy 

*  Clarke's  WesJeij  Family. 


404  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l728. 

(Scaliger  says  the  Ethiopic  is  but  a  dialect  of  it,)  so  will  the 
Syriac,  and  even  the  Arabic,  as  soon  as  you  can  crack  it,  and  I 
believe  pleasanter  as  well  as  richer  than  all  the  rest.  And  I 
doubt  not  but  he  that  is  master  of  the  Hebrew  may  soon  conquer 
all  the  others,  which  will  both  receive  it  and  give  light  to  each 
other,  especially,  (as  I  have  heard,)  the  Arabic,  whereof  I  question 
whether  it  be  ever  exhaustible,  and  which  is  yet  spoken  and  writ 
from  the  hills  of  Grenada  to  the  uttermost  easterly  bounds  of  the 
world.  I  have  a  sample  of  it  for  you  here,  if  you  are  not  got  so 
far,  in  a  specimen  of  the  Arabic  Testament,  and  have  picked  out 
a  pretty  many  words  in  Job,  which  the  commentators  say  are  of 
one  of  those  three  languages,  wherein  your  assistance  will  do  me 
a  great  pleasure.  If  you  can,  get  the  Oxford  edition  of  Tacitus's 
Annals,  transcribing  the  passage  in  the  sixth  book  concerning  the 
Phoenix,  and  the  annotations  upon  it,  and  be  so  kind  as  to  bring 
them  with  you. 

"  I  have  writ,  on  the  other  side,  to  your  brother  my  thoughts  of 
the  best  way  of  your  coming  ;  and  the  sooner  you  come  the  better ; 
but  you  will  send  word  by  post  the  day  we  must  send  for  you  to 
Lincoln.  I  heartily  wish  I  could  as  well  send  you  both  a  viaticum 
as  I  do  my  best  blessings. — Erom  your  affectionate  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."  * 

Eight  days  after,  Mr  Wesley  wrote  to  his  son,  John,  stating  his 
intention  to  meet  him  at  Lincoln.  The  letter  is  now  for  the  first 
time  published,  the  copy  being  kindly  furnished  by  Dr  Hoole  : — 

''  Jidy2Q,  1727. 

"  Son  John, — I  shall  be  at  Lincoln,  (D.  V.,)  on  the inst., 

and  shall  stay  till  Eriday  morning.  If  you  can  get  thither  by 
Wednesday  or  Thursday  night,  I  shall  be  glad  of  your  company 
home.  And  not  long  after,  I  hope  to  send  Charles  a  totable 
reason  for  following.  Whenever  you  come,  you  will  be  fully  wel- 
come to  your  loving  father,  Samuel  Wesley." 

John  Wesley  came  to  Epworth  and  Wroot  accordingly.  Here 
he  continued  to  act  as  his  father's  curate  till  July  1728,  when  he 
returned  to  Oxford,  with  a  view  to  obtain  priest's  orders.  Two 
months  afterwards,  on  September  22,  he  was  ordained  priest  by 

*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


AGE  CO.]  LETTEKS.  405 

Dr  Potter,  who  had  ordained  him  deacon  in  1725.  He  imme- 
diately returned  to  the  assistance  of  his  father  in  Lincohishire, 
where,  excepting  a  short  interval,  he  continued  until  November 
22,  ]  729,  when,  at  the  request  of  his  faithful  friend,  Dr  Morley, 
the  rector  of  his  college,  he  returned  to  Oxford  to  fulfil  the  office 
of  moderator.  Meanwhile,  Charles  Wesley  was  pursuing  his 
studies  at  Christ  Church  College,  and,  though  only  twenty-two 
years  old,  had  begun  to  take  pupils.  The  following  letters  were 
written  during  this  period.  For  the  first  we  are  indebted  to  the 
kindness  of  Dr  Hoole.     Hitherto  it  has  been  unpublished  : — 

"  Epworth,  Sept.  5,  1728. 

"  Dear  Son, — Your  mother  had  yours  yesterday,  as  I  suppose 
before  this  you  have  had  hers  and  mine,  with  the  certificate. 
Yours  brought  the  good  news  of  Charles's  recovery,  which  will 
supersede  his  country  journey,  and  help  him  to  regain  the  time 
he  has  lost  in  his  studies. 

"  M miraculously  gets  money  even  in  Wroot,  and  has  given 

the  first  fruits  of  her  earning  to  her  mother,  lending  her  money, 
and  presenting  her  with  a  new  cloak  of  her  own  buying  and 
making,  for  which  God  will  bless  her.  When  we  get  to  Epworth, 
she  will  grow  monstrously  rich,  for  she  will  have  more  work  than 
she  can  do,  and  the  people  are  monstrously  civil. 

"  God  has  given  me  two  fair  escapes  for  life  within  these  few 
weeks.  The  first  when  my  old  nag  fell  with  me,  trailed  me  by  my 
foot  in  the  stirrups  about  six  yards,  (when  I  was  alone,  all  but  God 
and  my  good  angel,)  trod  on  my  other  foot,  yet  never  hurt  me. 

"  The  other  escape  was  much  greater.  On  ]\Ionday  week,  at 
Burringham  Ferry,  we  were  driven  down  with  a  fierce  stream  and 
wind,  and  fell  foul  with  our  broadside  against  a  keel.  The  second 
shock  threw  two  of  our  horses  overboard,  and  filled  the  boat  with 
water.  I  was  just  preparing  to  swim  for  life,  when  John  White- 
lamb's  long  legs  and  arms  swarmed  up  into  the  keel,  and  lugged 
me  in  after  him.  My  mare  was  swimming  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
but  at  last  we  all  got  safe  to  land.  Help  to  praise  Him  who  saves 
both  man  and  beast. 

"  I  write  with  pain,  therefore  nothing  else  but  love  and  blessing 
from,  your  affectionate  father,  Samuel  Wesley." 

"  Dick's  just  Dick  still ;  but  I  hope  Sukey  is  not  Sukey." 


4;)6  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l730, 

"  Epwoeth,  Jan.  29,  1730. 

"  Deae  Charles, — I  had  your  last  with  your  brother's,  and 
you  may  easily  guess  whether  I  were  not  jjleased  with  it,  both  on 
your  account  and  my  own.  You  have  a  double  advantage  by 
your  pupils,  which  will  soon  bring  you  more  if  you  will  improve  it, 
as  I  firmly  hope  you  will,  in  taking  the  utmost  care  to  form  their 
minds  to  piety  as  well  as  learning.  As  for  yourself,  between 
logic,  grammar,  and  mathematics,  be  idle*  if  you  can  ;  and  I  give 
my  blessing  to  the  bishojD  for  having  tied  you  a  little  faster, 
by  obliging  you  to  rub  up  your  Arabic.  A  fixed  and  constant 
method  will  make  all  both  easy  and  delightful  to  you.  But  for 
all  that  you  must  find  time  every  day  for  walking,  which  you 
know  you  may  do  with  advantage  to  your  pupils ;  and  a  little 
more  robust  exercise,  now  and  then,  will  do  you  no  harm. 

"  You  are  now  launched  fairly,  Charles ;  hold  up  your  head, 
and  swim  like  a  man  ;  and  when  you  cuff  the  wave  beneath  you, 
say  to  it,  much  as  another  hero  did — 

'  Carolum  vehis,  et  Caroli  fortunam.' 

But  always  keep  your  eye  above  the  pole-star.  And  so  God  send 
you  a  good  voyage  through  the  troublesome  sea  of  life  !  which  is 
the  hearty  prayer  of,  your  loving  father, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."  f 

Immediately  after   John  Wesley's   return  to  Oxford,  in  Nov. 

1729,  he  and  his  brother  Charles  and  two  more  students  began  to 
meet  together,  three  or  four  evenings  every  week,  for  the  purpose 
of  reading  the  classics.  One  of  the  students  was  Mr  Morgan,  who, 
during  the  summer  following,  called  at  Oxford  Gaol,  to  see  a  man 
condemned  for  the  murder  of  his  wife.  He  urged  the  two  Wes- 
ley s  to  join  him  in  his  visits  to  the  prison  and  to  the  poor,  and,  at 
last,  on  the  24!th  of  August  1730,  they  yielded ;  but,  fearful  that 
they  might  be  doing  wrong,  before  they  fully  committed  them- 
selves to  this  Avork  of  visiting,  they  wrote  asking  the  advice  of 
their  venerable  father.     Part  of  his  answer,  dated  Se23teniber  21, 

1730,  was  as  follows  : — 

"And  now,  as  to  your  own  designs  and  employments,  what  can 

*  Charles  had  been  idle.     He  says,  '"  My  first  year  at  college  I  lost  in  diver- 
Biona  ;  the  next  I  set  myself  to  study." — Mookk's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  150. 
t  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


AGE  68.]  LETTEKS,  407 

I  say  less  of  them  than  valde  pi^oho :  and  that  I  have  the  highest 
reason  to  bless  God  that  He  has  given  me  two  sons  together  at 
Oxford,  to  whom  He  has  given  grace  and  courage  to  turn  the  war 
against  the  world  and  the  devil,  wliich  is  the  best  way  to  conquer 
them.  They  have  but  one  more  enemy  to  combat  with,  the  flesh  ; 
wiiich,  if  they  take  care  to  subdue,  by  fasting  and  jjrayer,  there 
will  be  no  more  for  them  to  do  but  to  proceed  steadily  in  the  same 
course,  and  expect  the  crown  which  fadeth  not  away.  You  have 
reason  to  bless  God,  as  I  do,  that  you  have  so  fast  a  friend  as  Mr 
M.,*  who,  I  see,  in  the  most  difficult  service,  is  ready  to  break  the 
ice  for  you.  You  do  not  know  of  how  much  good  that  poor 
wretch  who  killed  his  wife  has  been  the  jDrovidential  occasion.  I 
think  I  must  adopt  Mr  M.  to  be  my  son,  together  with  you  and 
your  brother  Charles ;  and  when  I  have  such  a  ternion  to  jirose- 
cute  that  war,  wherein  I  am  now  miles  emeritus,  I  shall  not  be 
afraid  when  they  speak  with  their  enemies  in  the  gate. 

"  I  am  afraid  lest  the  main  objection  you  make  against  going 
on  in  the  business  with  the  prisoners,  may  secretly  proceed  from 
flesh  and  blood.  Go  on,  then,  in  God's  name,  in  the  path  to 
which  your  Saviour  has  directed  you,  and  that  track  wherein  your 
father  has  gone  before  you  !  For  when  I  was  an  undergraduate 
at  Oxford,  I  visited  those  in  the  castle  there,  and  reflect  on  it 
Avith  great  satisfaction  to  this  day.  Walk  as  prudently  as  you 
can,  though  not  fearfully,  and  my  heart  and  prayers  are  \\\i\\ 
you. 

"Your  first  regular  step  is,  to  consult  with  him  (if  any  such 
there  be)  who  has  a  jurisdiction  over  the  prisoners  ;  and  the  next 
is,  to  obtain  the  direction  and  approbation  of  your  bishop.  This 
is  Monday  morning,  at  which  time  I  shall  never  forget  you.  If  it 
be  possible,  I  should  be  glad  to  see  you  all  three  here  in  the  fine 
end  of  summer.  But  if  I  cannot  have  that  satisfaction,  I  am  sure 
I  can  reach  you  every  day,  though  you  were  in  the  Indies.  Accord- 
ingly, to  Him  who  is  everywhere  I  now  heartily  commit  you,  as 
being  your  most  affectionate  and  joyful  father, 

"Samuel  Wesley." 

Samuel  Wesley  thus  gave  an  impulse  to  the  first  Methodist 
movement.  In  pursuance  of  his  directions,  his  son  John  obtained 
the  consent  of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  to  visit  the  prisoners,  and 

*  Mr  Jlorgan. 


408  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAJIUEL  WESLEY,  [l730. 

to  preacli  to  them  once  a  month.  These  proceedings  were  soon 
known  in  the  university,  and  John  Wesley  and  liis  friends  became 
a  common  topic  of  collegiate  mirth,  and  were  jeeringly  designated 
" The  Holy  Chib."  John  again  consulted  his  father,  and  was  an- 
swered as  follows  : — 

"December  1,  1730. 

"  This  day  I  received  yours ;  and  this  evening,  in  the  course  of 
our  reading,  I  thought  I  found  an  answer  that  would  be  more  pro- 
per than  any  I  myself  could  dictate.  '  Great  is  my  glorying  of 
you :  I  am  filled  with  comfort,  I  am  exceeding  joyful'  (2  Cor.  vii. 
4.)  What  would  you  be  ?  AVould  you  be  angels  ?  I  question 
whether  a  mortal  can  arrive  to  a  greater  degree  of  perfection  than 
steadily  to  do  good,  and  for  that  very  reason  patiently  and  meekly 
to  suffer  evil.  For  my  part,  on  the  present  view  of  your  actions 
and  designs,  my  daily  prayers  are  that  God  would  keep  you 
humble;  and  then,  I  am  sure  that  if  you  continue  'to  suffer  for 
righteousness'  sake,'  though  it  be  but  in  a  lower  degree,  'the  S23irit 
of  glory  and  of  God '  shall,  in  some  good  measure,  'rest  upon  you.' 
Be  never  weary  of  well-doing  ;  never  look  back  ;  for  you  know  the 
prize  and  the  crown  are  before  you ;  though  I  can  scarce  think  so 
meanly  of  you,  as  that  you  would  be  discouraged  with  'the  crack- 
ling of  thorns  under  a  pot.'  Be  not  high-minded,  but  fear.  Pre- 
serve an  equal  temper  of  mind,  under  whatever  treatment  you  meet 
witli  from  a  not  very  just  or  well-natured  world.  Bear  no  more 
sail  than  is  necessary,  but  steer  steady.  The  less  you  value  your- 
selves for  these  unfashionable  duties,  the  more  all  good  and  wise 
men  will  value  you,  if  they  see  your  actions  are  of  a  piece ;  or, 
which  is  infinitely  more,  He  by  whom  actions  and  intentions  are 
weighed  will  both  accept,  esteem,  and  reward  you.* 

"  I  hear  my  son  John  has  the  honour  of  being  styled  the  'Father 
of  the  Holy  Club:'  if  it  be  so,  I  must  be  the  grandfather  of  it; 
and  I  need  not  say  that  I  had  rather  any  of  my  sons  should  be  so 
ditrnified  and  distinguished  than  to  have  the  title  of  His  Holi- 
ness."  f 

Who  can  tell  the  influence  which  such  a  letter  had  in  urging 
John  Wesley  and  his  little  band  of  Methodists  to  proceed  in  their 
new  career  ? 

Samuel  Wesley,  though  paralysed  in  his  right  hand,  was  busily 

*  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  8.  f  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  171. 


AGE  68.]  LETTEES.  409 

engaged  in  completing  his  "Dissertation  on  the  Book  of  Job."  He 
wished  to  dedicate  his  work  to  Queen  Caroline,  and  wrote  to  both 
his  sons,  Samuel  and  John,  relative  to  the  proper  mode  of  proceed- 
ing. John,  however,  was  now  stigmatized  as  the  "  Father  of  the 
Holy  Club,"  and  Samuel  had  given  offence  in  high  quarters  by  his 
poetical  satires  on  the  cabinet  and  their  friends,  and  hence,  for  the 
present,  it  was  found  imjDracticable  to  obtain  the  queen's  permis- 
sion. The  following  letter  refers  to  this.  It  was  addressed  to 
Samuel : — 

"Epworth,  Dec.  17,  1730. 

"Dear  Son, — Yours  of  the  11th  inst.  has  made  me  pretty  quiet 
in  reference  to  my  dedication,  as  indeed  my  heart  was  never  vio- 
lently set  upon  it,  or  I  hope  on  anything  else  in  this  world.  I  find 
it  stuck  where  I  always  boded  it  would,  as  in  the  words  of  your 
brother  in  yours,  when  you  waited  on  him  with  my  letter  and 
addressed  him  on  the  occasion.  '  The  short  answer  I  received 
was  this,  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  obtain  leave  on  my  account ; 
you  had  the  misfortune  to  be  my  father ;  and  I  had  a  long  bill 
against  M n.' 

"  I  guess  at  the  particulars,  that  you  have  let  your  wit  too  loose 
against  some  favourites  ;  which  is  often  more  highly  resented,  and 
harder  to  be  pardoned,  than  if  you  had  done  it  against  greater  per- 
sons. It  seems,  then,  that  original  sin  goes  sometimes  upwards  as 
well  as  downwards ;  and  we  must  suffer  for  our  offspring.  Though, 
notwithstanding  this  disappointment,  I  shall  never  think  it  'a  mis- 
fortune to  have  been  your  father.'  I  am  sensible  it  would  avail 
little  for  me  to  plead,  in  proof  of  my  loyalty,  the  having  written 
and  printed  the  first  thing  that  appeared  in  defence  of  the  govern- 
ment after  the  accession  of  King  William  and  Queen  Mary  to  the 
crown,  (which  was  an  answer  to  a  speech  without  doors  ;)  and  that  I 
wrote  a  great  many  little  pieces  more,  both  in  prose  and  verse,  with 
the  same  view ;  and  that  I  ever  had  the  most  tender  affection  and 
the  deepest  veneration  for  my  sovereign  and  the  royal  family ;  on 
which  account  (it  is  no  secret  to  you,  though  it  is  to  most  others,) 
I  have  undergone  the  most  sensible  pains  and  inconveniences  of 
my  whole  life,  and  that  for  a  great  many  years  together ;  and  yet 
have  still,  I  thank  God,  retained  my  integrity  firm  and  immovable 
till  I  have  conquered  at  the  last. 

"  I  must  confess,  I  had  the  pardonable  vanity  (when  I  had  dedi- 
cated two  books  before  to  two  of  our  English  queens.  Queen  Mary 


410  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l731. 

and  Queen  Anne,)  to  desire  to  inscribe  a  third,  which  has  cost  me 
ten  times  as  much  labour  as  all  the  rest,  to  her  gracious  Majesty 
Queen  Caroline,  who,  I  have  heard,  is  an  encourager  of  learning. 
And  this  work,  I  am  sure,  needs  a  royal  encouragement,  whether 
or  no  it  may  deserve  it.  Neither  would  I  yet  despair  of  it,  had  I 
any  friend  who  would  fairly  represent  that  and  me  to  her  Majesty. 
Be  that  as  it  pleaseth  Him  in  whose  hands  are  the  hearts  of  all 
the  princes  upon  earth  ;  and  who  turneth  them  whithersoever  He 
pleases. 

"  If  we  have  not  subscrijDtions  enough  for  the  cuts,  as  proposed, 
we  must  be  content  to  lower  our  sails  again,  and  to  have  only  the 
maps,  the  picture  of  Job,  which  I  must  have  at  the  beginning,  and 
some  few  others. 

"The  family,  I  thank  God,  is  all  well,  as  is  your  affectionate 
father,  SAMUEL  Wesley."* 

As  the  following  letter,  likewise  to  his  son  Samuel,  refers  to 
the  same  Dissertations,  we  insert  it  here,  though  a  few  months  out 
of  its  chronological  order.  Samuel  Wesley,  jun.,  had  recently  in- 
terred his  only  sou  : — 

"June  18,  1731. 

"  Dear  Son, — Yes,  this  is  a  thunderbolt  indeed  to  your  whole 
family  ;  but  especially  to  me,  who  am  not  now  likely  to  see  any  of 
my  name,  in  the  third  generation,  (though  Job  did  in  the  fourth,) 
to  stand  before  God.  However,  this  is  a  new  demonstration  to 
me  that  there  must  be  a  hereafter.  I  trust  God  will  support  you 
both  under  this  heavy  and  unspeakable  affliction.  But  when  and 
how  did  he  die  ?  and  where  is  his  epitaph  ?  Though,  if  sending 
this  now  will  be  too  much  refricare  vulnus,  I  will  stay  longer 
for  it. 

"And  now  for  your  letter  of  May  27.     The  sum  is, 

"  1.  As  to  the  placing  the  Dissertations.  As  you  say,  the  pro- 
legomena are  something  aguish  ;  though  that  and  all  the  rest  I 
leave  (as  often  before)  to  your  judgment,  for  my  memory  is  near 
gone ;  neither  have  I  the  papers  in  any  order  by  me. 

"  2.  The  '  Poetica  Descriptio  Monstri,'  I  think,  would  come  in 
most  naturally  after  all  the  Dissertations  of  the  Behemoth  and 
Leviathan  ;  but  you,  having  the  whole  before  you,  will  be  the  most 
proper  judge. 

*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


AGE  69.]  LETTEKS.  411 

"  3.  Do  with  the  '  De  Carmine  Pastoritio  '  as  you  please. 

"4.  'Periplus  Rubri  Maris'  comes  with  the  geography,  when 
Mr  Hoole  has  finished  it. 

"  5.  I  remember  no  extracts  but  that  from  the  '  Catena/  which 
is  616  folio  pages;  but  I  think  I  have  got  the  main  of  it  into 
thirty  quartos,  which  I  finished  yesterday,  though  there  is  no  haste 
in  sending  it,  for  I  design  it  for  the  appendix. 

"As  for  the  'Testimonia  Arianorum '  Trepl  rov  Aojov,  it  hap- 
pens well  that  I  have  a  pretty  good  copy,  though  not  so  perfect 
as  that  which  is  lost,  and  will  get  Mr  Horberry  to  transcribe  it  as 
soon  as  he  returns  from  Oxford ;  though  I  think  it  will  not  come 
in  till  towards  the  latter  end  of  the  work,  as  must  your  collation 
at  the  very  end,  only  before  the  appendix;*  and  I  shall  begin  to 
revise  it  to-morrow.  Blessing  on  you  and  yours,  from  your  loving 
father,  Samuel  Wesley."  f 

Mr  Wesley  was  a  strict  disciplinarian,  not  only  in  his  family, 
but  in  his  parish.  According  to  the  canonical  law  of  the  Church 
of  England,  churchwardens  took  an  oath  to  bring  to  justice  all 
who  "offended  their  brethren  by  adultery,  whoredom,  incest, 
drunkenness,  swearing,  ribaldry,  usury,  or  any  other  uncleanness 
or  wickedness  of  life,"  (Canon  109.)  And  when  churchwardens 
violated  their  oaths  by  neglecting  their  duty,  it  then  became  im- 
perative that  the  clergyman  of  the  parish  should  present  to  his 
ordinary,  the  appointed  judge  of  ecclesiastical  causes,  all  the 
crimes  and  persons  which  he  thought  needed  reformation.  (Canon 
113.)  If  the  accused  person  was  found  guilty  of  adultery,  or  in- 
continency,  the  punishment  usually  inflicted  was  to  do  a  public 
penance  in  the  parish  church,  or  in  the  market-place,  when  the 
offender,  or  offenders,  stood  in  a  white  sheet,  bare-legged  and  bare- 
headed, and  made  an  open  confession  of  their  crime  in  a  prescribed 
form  of  words.  The  judge,  however,  had  authority,  after  the  pen- 
ance had  been  enjoined,  to  permit  a  commutation  of  it,  by  the 
criminal  paying  a  sum  of  money  for  pious  uses  in  satisfaction 
thereof.  These  remarks  will  help  the  reader  to  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  following  letters  : — 

*  The  "  Testimonia  Arianorum,"  and  the  Appendix,  mentioned  in  this  letter, 
were  not  published.  It  is  evident  that  Samuel  Wesley,  jun.,  had  the  completion 
of  the  "Dissertations  on  the  Book  of  Job." 

t  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


412  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l73L 

"  Epwokth,  Dec.  30,  1730. 

"Me  Tekey, — On  account  of  our  old  friendship,  I  beg  your 
advice  as  to  the  greatest  parochial  difficulty  I  have  met  with  since 
my  residence  here. 

"  I  have  two  couples  of  sinners  at  present  upon  my  hands — the 
first  very  lean ;  the  latter  very  fat ;  and  I  hope  your  courts  will 
maniige  them  both  very  well  when  they  are  blended  together. 

"The  lean  ones  are  Benjamin  Becket,  a  widower,  and  Elizabeth 
Locker,  a  widow.  Though  they  had  not  much  less  than  half-a- 
score  of  children  between  them  before,  yet  he  has  ventured  to  in- 
crease the  number  by  getting  a  chopping  bastard  on  her.  She 
had  weekly  relief  from  the  town  ;  and  he  was  prevented  doing  the 
same  by  being  made  sexton  last  year.  They  continue  both  un- 
married. What  aggravates  his  crime  is,  that,  some  years  since, 
he  did  public  penance  here  for  ante-matrimonial  fornication  with 
his  first  wife.  He  and  the  widow  are  now  desirous  to  do  penance 
for  this  crime ;  and  the  fellow  would  undergo  even  a  third  pen- 
ance by  marrying  her.  I  am  desirous  that  their  punishment 
should  be  as  exemplary  as  their  crime ;  and  that  both  of  them 
may  perform  their  penance  at  three  churches  of  the  Isle; — my  own 
at  Epworth,  at  Haxey,  and  at  Belton.  I  will  see  the  court  charges 
defrayed,  which  I  hope  will  be  as  moderate  as  possible,  because 
most  of  it  is  like  to  come  out  of  my  own  pocket,  and  because  the 
second  couple  will  make  amends. 

"  Their  names  are,  Mr  Aaron  Man,  one  of  the  most  substantial 
yeomen  in  my  parish,  reckoned  worth  about  £100  a-year ;  a  mar- 
ried man,  with  five  grown-up  children.  He  has  long  haunted  a 
widow  here  of  a  character  scarce  better  than  his  own.  Her  name 
is  Sarah  Brumby,  with  whom  he  has  been  seen  both  day  and 
night,  till  at  last  she  proved  with  child,  and  told  several  persons, 
who  are  ready  to  witness  it,  that  he  was  the  father  of  it.  Not- 
withstanding this,  he  is  so  impudent  and  cunning  that  nobody 
doubts  but  he  will  do  all  he  can  to  baffle  justice,  and  even  prevail 
upon  Brumby  to  retract  her  confession,  and  lay  it  upon  some 
other.  He  threatens  any  one  who  says  he  is  the  father,  to  put 
him  into  the  spiritual  court,  or  bring  an  action  against  him. 

"Your  advice,  what  steps  to  take  in  order  to  bring  these  crimi- 
nals to  public  justice,  would  be  very  obliging  and  serviceable  to 
me,  and  to  the  best  of  my  parish.  Our  opinion  is,  that,  being 
guarded  with  his  impenetrable  brass,  he  will  obstinately  deny  the 


AGE  G9.]  LETTEES.  4-1?) 

fact ;  and,  when  he  is  presented,  will  refuse  public  penance.  Per- 
haps he  might  be  willing  to  commute,  though  we  are  inclined  to 
believe  that  he  would  stand  an  excommunication,  which  we  know 
he  does  not  value,  though  a  capias  carried  to  an  outlawry,  we  be- 
lieve, would  make  him  bend, 

"  I  would  not  willingly  be  baffled  in  this  matter,  because  I  look 
upon  the  whole  exercise  of  discipline,  in  my  parish,  in  a  great 
measure  to  depend  upon  this  event, — I  am,  my  most  worthy  friend, 
your  entire  friend  and  servant,  Samuel  Wesley." 

The  next  letter,  written  six  weeks  afterwards,  relates  the  steps 
which  Mr  Wesley  took  in  this  curious  business.  It  was  addressed 
"  To  the  Worshipful  Mr  Chancellor  Newell,  at  Lincoln  :  " — 

"Epworth,  Feb.  15, 1731. 

"SiR,^I  received  yours,  together  with  the  order  of  penance  for 
Benjamin  Becket  and  Elizabeth  (then)  Locker  ;  and  have  got  them 
both  to  perform  it  at  Epworth  and  Haxey,  on  the  days  appointed ; 
but  the  woman,  being  weakly,  was  so  disordered  by  standing  with 
her  naked  feet,  that  the  women,  and  even  a  midwife,  assured  me 
that  she  would  hazard  her  life  if  she  went  to  perform  it  the  third 
time  at  Belton  in  the  same  manner. 

"  I  could  therefore  do  no  more  than  send  the  man  thither  at 
the  day  appointed,  who  performed  it  the  third  time,  according  to 
order,  as  is  certified  by  myself,  Mr  Hoole,  Mr  Morrice,  and  our 
churchwardens,  on  the  instrument  you  sent  us  ;  which  is  ready  to 
be  returned  at  the  visitation,  or  when  you  please.  If  you  don't 
think  it  proper  to  remit  the  woman's  doing  penance  the  third 
time,  which  I  entreat  that  you  would,  I  shall,  upon  your  order  in 
a  letter,  oblige  her  to  perform  it  to  the  full  extent.     She  appeared 

the  modestest  w that  I  have  met  with  on  such  an  occasion, 

and  is  now  an  honest  married  wife,  for  I  married  them  last  Friday. 

"  As  soon  as  this  case  was  over,  I  fell  at  my  second  couple,  hav- 
ing prepared  the  way  by  my  addresses  to  a  justice  of  the  peace  ; 
and  by  disposing  some  of  the  best  of  my  parishioners  to  join  with 
me,  on  account  of  the  charge  that  this  illegitimate  child  of  Sarah 
Brumby  might  bring  upon  the  parish." 

Mr  Wesley  then  proceeds  to  narrate  the  proceedings  which  took 
place  before  the  magistrate.     Sarah  Brumby  confessed  that  her 


41-i  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l731. 

cliilcl  was  illegitimate,  but  refused  to  tell  who  was  its  father.  A 
witness,  "  one  Mary  Jackson,  who  had  been  guilty  of  fornication 
herself,  and  had  then  a  bastard  of  about  six  feet  high,  had  told 
Wesley  that  she  had  heard  Brumby  say  that  Aaron  Man  was  the 
father,  but  when  brought  before  the  magistrate  to  give  evidence, 
she  denied  all  that  she  had  said.  Two  other  witnesses,  however, 
Elizabeth  Piers,  and  Elizabeth  Dawson,  the  midwife,  declared  that 
they  had  heard  Brumby  frequently  declare  that  the  father  of  the 
child  was  Aaron  Man."  Mr  Wesley  then  concludes  his  letter 
thus  : — 

"  This  is  the  evidence  we  have  got.  If  we  may  ground  a  pre- 
sentment on  these  proofs,  in  the  taking  which  we  have  exactly  fol- 
lowed the  direction  you  were  so  kind  to  prescribe  us,  I  believe  I 
shall  be  able  to  induce  my  churchwardens  to  present  both  Aaron 
Man  and  Sarah  Brumby,  as  soon  as  you  will  be  so  good  as  to 
teach  us  how  we  may  proceed. — I  am,  honoured  sir,  your  very 
obliged  humble  servant,  Samuel  Wesley." 

Mr  Wesley  pursued  this  strange  business  during  the  whole  of 
the  year  1731.  It  appears  that  the  churchwardens,  William 
Watkins  and  Richard  Samson,  had  neglected  to  present  Aaron 
Man  and  Sarah  Brumby  for  prosecution  ;  and  that  Mr  Chancellor 
Newell  had  threatened  to  proceed  against  them  for  such  neglect  of 
duty.  Meanwhile,  another  case  had  sprung  up.  Some  years  be- 
fore, Eliza  Hurst  had  been  delivered  of  an  illegitimate  child,  but 
refused  to  name  the  father.  The  Epworth  churchwarden,  for  the 
time  being,  presented  her,  'but  no  prosecution  followed.  Mr 
Wesley  often  wrote  to  the  officials  respecting  her,  but  without 
effect.  At  length  the  woman  came  to  him,  and  earnestly  desired 
she  might  perform  penance  for  her  offence,  whenever  the  court 
should  order  it,  Wesley  informed  the  Chancellor  of  this,  and 
here  the  matter  stuck.  Since  then.  Hurst  had  cohabited  with 
Thomas  Thew,  and  was  likely  to  have  another  child.  She  had 
wished  to  marry  Thew,  but  Mr  Wesley  refused  to  perform  the 
ceremony,  until  she  had  done  penance  for  her  former  fault.  It 
so  happened,  however,  that  there  was  "  a  strolling  villain  in  the 
parish,  called  John  England,  and  he  coupled  them  together  in  a 
hemp-kiln,  on  Saturday,  January  22, 1732,  they  having  confessed  to 
him  their  fornication,  and  he  having  absolved  them  for  it." 


AGE  CO.]  LETTERS.  415 

In  consequence  of  all  tliis,  Wesley  found  himself  in  an  unplea- 
sant position,  and  wrote  to  Cliancellor  Newell  a  complainiug  letter, 
dated  "  February  2,  1732,"  and  which  he  concluded  by  subscrib- 
ing himself,  "  Your  much  aggrieved  friend  and  servant,  Samuel 
Wesley." 

On  the  day  following,  he  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  : — 

"Epworth,  Feb.  3,  1732. 

"  My  Lord, — I  received  the  high  honour  and  favour  of  your 
lordship's,  dated  Bugden,  Christmas-eve.  I  ever  thought  it  my 
duty,  since  I  have  been  the  minister  of  any  parish,  to  present  those 
persons  who  were  obnoxious  in  it,  if  the  churchwardens  neglected 
it,  unless  where  the  criminal  was  so  sturdy,  and  so  wealthy,  as  that 
I  was  morally  certain  I  could  not  do  it,  without  my  own  great 
inconvenience  or  ruin,  in  which  cases  God  does  not  require  it  of 
me." 

Ho  then  refers  to  the  case  of  Aaron  and  Brumby,  and  his  un- 
faithful churchwardens,  and  asks — 

"What  must  1  do  with  the  two  churchwardens,  if  they  offer 
themselves  to  receive  the  sacrament  ?  Ought  I  not  to  repel  them 
from  it,  being  satisfied  in  my  own  mind  that  they  are  notoriously 
perjured,  and  have  thereby  given  great  scandal  to  the  congregation? 
One  of  them,  Eichard  Samson,  offered  himself  at  the  communion 
at  Christmas,  but  I  sent  my  clerk  to  desire  him  privately  to  with- 
draw%  because  I  had  written  to  your  lordship  about  his  case,  and 
had  not  received  your  directions. 

"Begging  your  lordship's  blessing,  and  a  line  of  answer,  I  re- 
main, your  lordship's  ever  devoted  and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Samuel  Wesley.'"  * 

These  are  curious  letters,  and  are  inserted  here,  not  as  a  vindi- 
cation of  public  penances,  but  simply  to  show  Samuel  Wesley's 
stern  fidelity.  They  furnish  a  sketch  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  in 
the  Church  of  England,  at  the  time  that  Samuel  Wesley's  sons, 
John  and  Charles,  were  beginning  their  Methodist  career  at  Oxford 
University.  John  Wesley  tried  to  enforce  the  same  sort  of  church 
discipline  in  Georgia ;  and  all  clergymen  are  bound,  by  their  en- 
gagements, to  do  as  Wesley  did,  that  is,  act  according  to  the  canons 
of  their  Church.  Canon-law  might  need  revision  ;  no  doubt  it  did  ; 
*  Clarke's  Wesley  Faviily. 


41 G  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l731. 

but,  because  Samuel  Wesley  had  bound  himself  to  observe  these 
ecclesiastical  decrees,  he  was  far  too  couscientious  a  man  to  treat 
them  as  though  they  did  not  exist.  His  stern,  perhaps  unwise, 
fidelity,  often  brought  him  into  trouble  ;  but,  in  the  midst  of  all, 
his  "rejoicing  was  this,  the  testimony  of  his  conscience,  that  in 
simplicity  and  godly  sincerity,  he  had  his  conversation  in  the 
world." 

During  the  year  1731,  Samuel  Wesley  met  with  a  most  serious 
accident.  Mrs  Wesley  gives  a  graphic  account  of  it  in  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  her  son  John  : — * 

"July  12,  1731. 
"  Dear  Jacky, — The  particulars  of  your  father's  fall  are  as 
follows  : — On  Priday,  June  -ith,  I,  your  sister  Martha,  and  our 
maid,  were  going  in  our  waggon  to  see  the  ground  we  hire  of  Mrs 
Knight,  at  Low  INIillwood.  He  sat  in  a  chair  at  one  end  of  the 
waggon,  I  in  another  at  the  other  end,  Matty  between  us,  and  the 
maid  behind  me.  Just  before  we  reached  the  close,  going  down  a 
small  hill,  the  horses  took  into  a  gallop ;  and  out  flew  your  father  and 
his  chair.  The  maid  seeing  the  horses  run,  hung  all  her  weight  on 
my  chaii",  and  kept  me  from  keeping  him  conipany.  She  cried  out 
to  William  to  stojD  the  horses,  and  that  her  master  was  killed.  The 
fellow  leaped  out  of  the  seat,  and  stayed  the  horses,  then  ran  to  Mr 
Wesley,  but,  ere  he  got  to  him,  two  neighbours,  who  were  providen- 
tially met  together,  raised  his  head,  upon  which  he  had  j^itched, 
and  held  him  backward,  by  which  means  he  began  to  respire ;  for 
it  is  certain,  by  the  blackness  in  his  face,  that  he  had  never  drawn 
breath  from  the  time  of  his  fall  till  they  helped  him  up.  By  this 
time,  I  was  got  to  him,  asked  him  how  he  did,  and  persuaded  him 
to  drink  a  little  ale,  for  we  had  brought  a  bottle  with  us.  He 
looked  prodigiously  wild,  but  began  to  speak,  and  told  me  he  ailed 
nothing.  I  informed  him  of  his  fall.  He  said  he  '  knew  nothing 
of  any  fall.  He  was  as  well  as  ever  he  was  in  his  life.'  We  bound 
up  his  head,  which  was  very  much  bruised,  and  helped  him  into 
the  waggon  again,  and  set  him  at  the  bottom  of  it,  while  I  supported 
his  head  between  my  hands,  and  the  man  led  the  horses  softly  home. 
I  sent  presently  for  ]\Ir  Harper,  who  took  a  good  quantity  of  blood 
from  him  ;  and  then  he  began  to  feel  pain  in  several  parts,  particu- 
larly in  his  side  and  shoulder.  He  had  a  very  ill  night,  but,  on 
"''•  Clarke's  Wesley  Family,  vol.  i.  p.  309. 


AGE  69.]  LETTEES.  417 

Saturday  morning,  Mr  Harper  came  again  to  him,  dressed  his  head, 
and  gave  him  something  which  much  abated  the  pain  in  his  side. 
We  repeated  the  dose  at  bed-time,  and,  on  Sunday,  he  preached 
twice,  and  gave  the  sacrament,  which  was  too  much  for  him  to  do ; 
but  nobody  could  dissuade  him  from  it.  On  Monday  he  was  ill, 
and  slept  almost  all  day.  On  Tuesday  the  gout  came ;  but,  with 
two  or  three  nights  taking  Bateman,  it  went  off  again,  and  he  has 
since  been  better  than  could  be  expected.  We  thought  at  first 
the  waggon  had  gone  over  him ;  but  it  only  went  over  his  gown 
sleeve,  and  the  nails  took  a  little  skin  off  his  knuckles,  but  did 
him  no  further  hurt." 

Mr  Wesley  was  now  in  his  sixty-ninth  year,  and  the  effects  of 
such  an  accident,  of  course,  were  serious  and  lasting.  He  had  held 
the  Epworth  living  for  about  five-and-thirty  years  ;  but  being  now, 
to  a  great  extent,  disabled,  he  proposed  to  resign  it,  if  his  son 
Samuel  could  use  sufficient  influence  to  be  appointed  his  successor. 
The  Wroot  Eectory  he  had  held  not  longer  than  about  seven  years, 
and,  as  John  Whitelamb  had  recently  become  his  curate,  and  had 
married  his  daughter  Mary,  he  applied  to  the  Lord  Chancellor  to 
have  that  living  transferred  to  him.  The  following  letters  refer  to 
these  intended  resignations,  and  to  other  matters  : — 

"Feb.  28,1733. 

"  Deae  Son  Saimuel, —  For  several  reasons,  I  have  earnestly 
desired,  especially  in  and  since  my  last  sickness,  that  you  might 
succeed  me  in  Epworth,  in  order  to  which  I  am  willing  and  deter- 
mined to  resign  the  living,  provided  you  could  make  an  interest  to 
have  it  in  my  room. 

"  My  first  and  best  reason  for  it  is,  because  I  am  persuaded  you 
would  serve  God  and  bis  people  here  better  than  I  have  done. 
Though,  thanks  be  to  God,  after  near  forty  years  labour  among 
them,  they  grow  better,  I  having  had  above  one  hundred  at  my 
last  sacrament,  whereas  I  have  had  less  than  twenty  formerly. 

"  My  second  reason  relates  to  yourself.  You  have  been  a  father 
to  your  brothers  and  sisters,  especially  to  the  former,  who  have 
cost  you  great  sums  in  their  education,  both  before  and  since  they 
went  to  the  University.  Neither  have  you  stopped  here,  but  have 
showed  your  pity  to  your  mother  and  me  in  a  very  liberal  manner, 
wherein  your  wife  joined  with  you,  when  you  did  not  overmuch 
abound  yourselves,  and  have  even  done  noble  charities  to  my  child- 

2d 


418  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l733. 

ren's  children.  Now,  what  should  I  be  if  I  did  not  endeavour  to 
make  you  easy  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  especially  when  I  know 
that  neither  of  you  have  your  health  in  London  ? 

"  My  third  reason  is  from  honest  interest ;  I  mean,  that  of  our 
family.  You  know  our  circumstances.  As  for  your  aged  and  in- 
firm mother,  as  soon  as  I  drop,  she  must  turn  out,  unless  you 
succeed  me ;  which,  if  you  do,  and  she  survives  me,  I  know  you 
will  immediately  take  her  then  to  your  own  house,  or  rather  con- 
tinue her  there,  where  your  wife  and  you  will  nomish  her,  till  we 
meet  again  in  heaven,  and  you  will  be  a  guide  and  stay  to  the  rest 
of  the  family, 

"  There  are  a  few  things  more  which  may  seem  to  be  tolerable 
reasons  to  me  for  desiring  you  to  be  my  successor.  I  have  been 
at  very  great  and  uncommon  expense  on  this  living.  I  have  re- 
built from  the  ground  the  parsonage  barn  and  dovecote ;  leaded, 
and  planked,  and  roofed,  a  great  part  of  my  chancel ;  rebuilt  the 
parsonage  house  twice  when  it  had  been  burnt,  the  first  time  one 
wing,  the  second  time  down  to  the  ground,  wherein  I  lost  all  my 
books  and  MSS,,  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  all  our  linen,  wearing 
apparel,  and  household  &tufl*,  except  a  little  old  iron,  my  wife  and  I 
being  scorched  with  the  flames,  and  all  of  us  very  narrowly  escap- 
ing with  life.  This,  by  God's  helj),  I  built  again,  digging  up  the 
old  foundations,  and  laying  new  ones.  It  cost  me  above  £400, 
little  or  nothing  of  the  old  materials  being  left ;  besides  the  cost 
of  new  furniture  from  top  to  bottom,  for  we  had  now  very  little 
more  than  what  Adam  and  Eve  had  when  they  first  set  up  house- 
keeping. I  then  planted  the  two  fronts  of  my  house  with  wall 
fruit  the  second  time,  as  I  had  done  the  front  of  the  previous 
house,  for  the  former  all  perished  by  the  fire.  I  have  set  mul- 
berries in  my  garden,  which  bear  plentifully,  as  also  cherries, 
pears,  &c.,  and,  in  the  adjoining  croft,  walnuts,  and  am  plant- 
ing more  every  day.  And  this  I  solemnly  declare,  not  with  any 
manner  of  view  that  any  of  mine  should  enjoy  any  fruit  of  my 
labour,  when  I  have  so  long  outlived  all  my  friends  ;  but  my  pros- 
pect was  for  some  unknown  person,  that  I  might  do  what  became 
me,  and  leave  the  living  better  than  I  found  it. 

"  And  yet,  I  might  own,  I  could  not  help  wishing,  that  all  my 
care  and  charge  might  not  be  utterly  lost  to  my  family,  but  that 
some  of  them  might  be  the  better  for  it,  though  I  despaired  of  it, 
till,  some  time  since,  the  best  of  my  parishioners  pressed  me 
earnestly  to  try  if  I  could  do  anything  in  it. 


AGE  71.]  LETTERS,  419 

"  All  I  can  do  is  to  resign  it  to  yon,  wliicli  I  am  ready  frankly 
and  gladly  to  do,  scorning  to  make  any  conditions,  for  I  know  you 
better. 

"  I  commend  this  affair,  and  you  and  yours,  to  God,  as  becomes 
your  affectionate  father,  Samuel  Wesley."  * 

Samuel  Wesley,  jun.,  declined  his  father's  offer  ;  and,  as  we  shall 
soon  see,  the  same  pro^Dosal  was  afterwards  made  to  John.  Mean- 
while, the  venerable  rector  still  kept  plodding  at  his  work  on  the 
Book  of  Job.  To  the  Rev.  Mr  Piggot,  Vicar  of  Doncaster,  he 
wrote  respecting  this,  and  respecting  his  late  serious  accident,  as 
follows : — 

"Epworth,  i^ei.  22,  1733. 

"  Deae  Sir, — Many  thanks  for  your  civil  letter.  I  cannot 
wonder  that  any  should  think  long  of  Job's  coming  out,  though  it 
is  common  in  books  of  this  nature,  especially  when  the  author  is 
absent  from  the  press,  and  there  are  so  many  cuts  and  maps  in  it, 
as  must  be  in  mine.  However,  I  owe  it  to  my  subscribers,  and 
indeed  to  myself,  to  give  some  farther  account  of  this  matter. 

"  Now,  if  Job's  friends  have  need  of  patience,  at  seeing  him  lie 
so  long  on  the  dunghill,  or,  which  is  much  the  same,  the  printing- 
house,  how  much  more  has  Job  himself  need  of  it,  who  is  sensible 
his  reputation  suffers  more  and  more  by  the  delay  of  it ;  though, 
if  he  himself  had  died,  as  he  was  lately  in  a  very  fair  way  to  it, 
having  been  as  good  as  given  over  by  three  physicians,  there  would 
have  been  no  manner  of  doubt  to  any  one  who  knows  the  character 
of  my  son  at  Westminster,  that  every  subscriber  would  have  had 
his  book. 

"  But  I  cannot  be  satisfied  with  this  though  I  have  lost  the  use 
of  one  hand  in  the  service  ;  yet,  I  thank  God,  non  deficit  altera, 
and  I  begin  to  put  it  to  school  this  day  to  learn  to  write,  in  order 
to  help  its  lame  brother.  And  when  it  can  write  legibly,  I  design, 
if  it  please  God,  to  go  to  London  myself  this  summer,  to  push  on 
the  editing,  by  helping  to  correct  the  press  both  in  text  and  maps, 
and  to  frame  the  indexes,  more  than  which  I  cannot  do. 

"  Very  many  have  forgot  their  large  promises  to  assist  me  in 
it,  so  that  I  hardly  expect  to  receive  £100  clear  for  all  my  ten 
years'  pains  and  labours ;  but  if  you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  com- 
municate this  to  any  of  my  subscribers,  who  may  fall  in  your  way, 
*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family,  vol.  ii.  p.  256. 


420  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l734. 

it  may  perhaiDs  give  some  satisfaction  to  them,  while  it  will  be 
but  a  piece  of  justice  to  your  most  obliged  friend  and  brother, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."* 


Mr  Wesley  was  naturally  a  humane  man,  and  was  always  on 
the  alert  where  benevolence  was  needed.  The  following  letter  is 
illustrative  of  this  trait  in  his  character  : — 

"  Epworth,  March  27,  1733. 
"  Me  Poetek, — Dorothy  Whitehead,  widow,  lately  died  here, 
leaving  four  small  children,  and  all  in  her  house  not  sufficient 
to  bury  her,  as  you  will  see  by  the  oath  of  her  executor  added  to 
the  will ;  for  a  will  she  would  have  to  dispose  of  a  few  roods  of 
land,  lest  her  children  should  fall  out  about  it.  The  bearer,  Simon 
Thew,  who  is  her  brother,  consented  to  be  her  executor,  that  he 
might  take  care  of  her  children.  I  gave  him  the  oath,  as  you  will 
see,  as  strictly  as  I  could,  and  am  satisfied  it  is  all  exactly  true. 
They  were  so  poor  that  I  forgave  them  what  was  due  for  it,  and 
so  did  even  my  clerk  for  the  burial.  If  there  be  any  little  matter 
due  for  the  probate  of  the  will,  I  entreat  and  believe  you  will  be 
as  low  as  possible  ;  wherein  you  know  your  charity  will  be  accept- 
able to  God,  and  will  much  oblige,  your  ready  friend, 

"  Samuel  Wesley." f 

As  intimated  in  a  previous  letter,  Mr  Wesley  went  to  London 
towards  the  end  of  the  year  1733.  Whilst  there,  he  addressed 
the  following  letter  "  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  for  John  Whitelamb, 
now  curate  of  Epworth": — 

"  Westminster,  Jan.  14, 1734. 
"  My  Loed, — The  small  rectory  of  Wroot,  in  the  diocese  and 
county  of  Lincoln,  adjoining  to  the  Isle  of  Axholnie,  is  in  the  gift 
of  the  Lord  Chancellor,  and  more  than  seven  years  since  was  con- 
ferred on  Samuel  Wesley,  rector  of  Epworth.  It  lies  in  our  low 
levels,  and  is  often  overflowed.  During  the  four  or  five  years  that 
I  have  had  it,  the  people  have  lost  the  fruits  of  the  earth  to  that 
degree  that  it  has  hardly  brought  me  in  £50  per  annum,  omnibus 
annis ;  and  some  years  not  enough  to  pay  my  curate  there  his 
salary  of  £30  a-year.  This  living,  by  your  lordship's  permission 
*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family.  t  Ibid, 


AGE  72.]  LETTEES.  421 

and  favour,  I  would  gladly  resign  to  one  Mr  John  Whitelamb, 
born  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Wroot,  where  his  father  and  grand- 
father lived,  when  I  took  him  from  among  the  scholars  of  a 
charity  school,  (founded  by  one  Mr  Travers,  an  attorney,)  brought 
him  to  my  house,  and  educated  him  there,  where  he  was  my 
amanuensis  for  four  years,  in  transcribing  my  '  Dissertations  on 
the  Book  of  Job,'  now  well  advanced  in  the  press  ;  and  was  em-' 
ployed  in  drawing  my  maps  and  figures  for  it,  as  well  as  we  could 
by  the  light  of  nature.  After  this,  I  sent  him  to  Oxford  to  my 
son,  John  Wesley,  Fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  under  whom  he 
made  such  proficiency,  that  he  was,  the  last  summer,  admitted  by 
the  Bishop  of  Oxford  into  deacon's  orders,  and  placed  my  curate 
in  Epworth,  while  I  came  up  to  town  to  expedite  the  printing  of 
my  book. 

"  Since  I  was  here,  I  gave  consent  to  his  marrying  one  of  my 
seven  daughters,  and  they  are  married  accordingly ;  and  though 
I  can  spare  little  more  with  her,  yet  I  would  gladly  give  them  a 
little  glebe  land  at  Wroot,  where  I  am  sure  they  will  not  want 
springs  of  water.  But  they  love  the  place,  though  I  can  get  no- 
body else  to  reside  on  it. 

"  If  I  do  not  flatter  myself,  he  is  indeed  a  valuable  person,  of 
uncommon  brightness,  learning,  piety,  and  indefatigable  industry, 
always  loyal  to  the  king,  zealous  for  the  Church,  and  friendly  to 
our  Dissenting  brethren ;  and  for  the  truth  of  this  character  I 
will  be  answerable  to  God  and  man. 

"  If,  therefore,  your  lordship  will  grant  me  the  favour  to  let 
me  resign  the  living  unto  him,  and  please  to  confer  it  on  him,  I 
shall  always  remain,  your  lordship's  most  bounden,  most  grateful, 
and  most  obedient  servant, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."* 

In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  February  1734,  p.  108,  the 
following  announcement  is  made,  in  the  list  of  ecclesiastical  pre- 
ferments:— "Mr  Whitelamb  to  the  rectory  of  Wroot,  Lincolnshire." 

Mr  Wesley's  two  sons,  John  and  Charles,  were  still  at  Oxford, 
and,  with  the  other  members  of  "  the  Holy  Club,"  were  receiving 
the  sacrament  once  a  week,  were  practising  the  fasts  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  visiting  prisoners  in  the  gaol,  and  the  destitute  in 
the  city,  and  were  abridging  themselves  of  all  the  superfluities, 
*  Wesley  Family, 


422  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l734. 

and  of  many  of  the  conveniences  of  life,  for  the  purpose  of  reliev- 
ing the  distress  with  which  they  met.  In  December  1731,  Samuel 
Wesley  visited  his  two  sons  at  Oxford,  to  see  for  himself  the  good 
they  were  doing,  and  to  obtain  direct  information  respecting  their 
temper  and  spirit.  In  a  letter  to  his  wife,  he  says  he  "  was  well 
paid  both  for  his  expense  and  labour  by  their  shining  piety." 
During  the  course  of  the  ensuing  summer,  in  1732,  John  Wesley 
made  two  visits  to  Epworth  ;  and  two  others  in  January  and  in 
June  1733.  His  father's  health  had  been  seriously  affected  ever 
since  his  sad  accident  in  June  1731  ;  and  as  Samuel  Wesley,  jun., 
had  declined  to  become  his  father's  successor  at  Epworth,  the 
same  proposal  was  now  made  to  John,*  and  a  long  correspondence 
followed,  which  lasted  till  the  end  of  173  l.f  In  a  long  letter  to 
his  father,  written  at  this  period,  John  Wesley  assigns  his  rea- 
sons for  declining  the  proposal.  At  Oxford  he  always  had  at 
band  half  a  dozen  friends  like-minded  with  himself  ;  he  was  free 
from  idle  and  trifling  visitors,  except  once  a  month  when  he  in- 
vited some  of  the  students  to  breakfast  with  him ;  he  was  free 
from  cares,  and  had  the  opportunity  of  attending  public  prayer 
twice  a  day ;  he  could  be  holier  and  usefuller  at  Oxford  than 
anywhere  else  ;  and  the  care  of  two  thousand  souls  at  Epworth 
was  a  greater  weight  than  he  had  ability  to  bear. 

His  father  replied  to  many  of  these  objections  in  the  following 
letter : — 

"A^or.  20, 1734. 

"  Deae  Son, — Your  only  argument  is  this  :  '  The  question  is 
not  whether  I  could  do  more  good  to  others  there  or  here,  but 
whether  I  could  do  more  good  to  myself;  seeing  wherever  I  can 
be  most  holy  myself,  there  I  can  most  promote  holiness  in  others. 
But  I  can  improve  myself  more  at  Oxford  than  at  any  other 
place.' 

"  To  this  I  answer — 

"  1 .  It  is  not  dear  self  but  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  different 
degrees  of  promoting  it,  which  should  be  our  main  consideration 
in  the  choice  of  any  course  of  life. 

"  2.  Supposing  you  could  be  more  holy  yourself  at  Oxford,  how 
does  it  follow  that  you  could  more  promote  holiness  in  others 
there  than  elsewhere  ?   Have  you  found  many  instances  of  it,  after 

*  See  Moore's  Life  of  Wesky,  vol.  i.  pp.  174-210. 

t  Sec  Original  Letters,  published  by  Priestley,  pp.  20-48. 


AGE  72.]  LETTEES.  423 

SO  many  years  hard  pains  and  labour?  Further,  I  dare  say, 
you  are  more  modest  and  just  than  to  say,  there  are  no  holier 
men  than  you  at  Oxford ;  and  yet  it  is  possible  they  may  not 
have  promoted  holiness  more  than  you  have  done  ;  as  I  doubt  not 
but  you  might  have  done  it  much  more,  had  you  taken  the  right 
method.  For  there  is  a  particular  turn  of  mind  for  these  matters 
— great  prudence  as  well  as  great  fervour. 

"  3.  I  cannot  allow  austerity  or  fasting,  considered  by  them- 
selves, to  be  proper  acts  of  holiness,  nor  am  I  for  a  solitary  life. 
God  made  us  for  a  social  life ;  we  are  not  to  bury  our  talents ; 
we  are  to  let  our  light  shine  before  men,  and  that  not  barely 
through  the  chinks  of  a  bushel,  for  fear  the  wind  should  blow  it 
out.  The  design  of  lighting  it  was,  that  it  might  give  light  to  all 
that  went  into  the  house  of  God.  And  to  this  academical  studies 
are  only  preparatory. 

"  4.  You  are  sensible  what  figures  those  make  who  stay  in  the 
university  till  they  are  superannuated.  I  cannot  think  drowsiness 
promotes  holiness.  How  commonly  do  they  drone  away  life, 
either  in  a  college  or  in  a  country  parsonage,  where  they  can  only 
give  God  the  snuffs  of  them,  having  nothing  of  life  or  vigour  left 
to  make  them  useful  in  the  world. 

"  5.  "We  are  not  to  fix  our  eye  on  one  single  point  of  duty,  but 
to  take  in  the  complicated  view  of  all  the  circumstances  in  every 
state  of  life  that  offers.  Thus  in  the  case  before  us,  put  all  cir- 
cumstances together.  If  you  are  not  indifl:erent  whether  the 
labours  of  an  aged  father,  for  above  forty  years  in  God's  vine- 
yard, be  lost,  and  the  fences  of  it  trodden  down  and  destroyed  ;  if 

you  consider  that  Mr  M must  in  all  probability  succeed  me  if 

you  do  not,  and  that  the  prospect  of  that  mighty  Nimrod's  coming 
hither  shocks  my  soul,  and  is  in  a  fair  way  of  bringing  down  my 
gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave  ;  if  you  have  any  care  for  our 
family,  which  must  be  dismally  shattered  as  soon  as  I  am  dropt ; 
if  you  reflect  on  the  dear  love  and  longing  which  this  poor  people 
have  for  you,  you  may  perhaps  alter  your  mind,  and  bend  your  will 
to  His,  who  has  promised,  if  in  all  our  ways  we  acknowledge  Him, 
He  will  direct  our  paths."  * 

A  large  portion  of  the  correspondence  on  this  momentous  busi- 
ness was  carried  on  during  Samuel  Wesley's  sojourn  in  London, 

*  Original  Letters,  published  by  Priestley,  p.  48. 


424  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l734. 

at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1734.  On  the  80th  of  March, 
John  Brown  set  out  from  Epworth  to  London,  to  accompany  the 
venerable  rector  to  his  home.*  On  his  arrival,  he  wrote  as  fol- 
lows to  Dr  Reynolds,  Bishop  of  Lincoln : — 

"  Epwouth,  May  2, 1734. 

"  My  Lord, — I  thank  God  I  got  well  home,  and  found  all  well 
here.  My  son-in-law,  Mr  Whitelamb,  is  gone  with  his  wife  to 
reside  at  Wroot,  and  takes  true  pains  among  the  people.  He 
designs  to  be  inducted  immediately  after  visitation. 

"  At  my  return  to  Epworth,  looking  a  little  among  my  people, 
I  found  there  were  two  strangers  come  hither,  both  of  which  I 
have  discovered  to  be  Papists,  though  they  come  to  church,  and  I 
have  hopes  of  making  one  or  both  of  them  good,  members  of  the 
Church  of  England." f 

Mr  Wesley  was  always  brimful  of  benevolence,  and,  as  soon  as 
he  was  at  home  again,  he  showed  it.  Hence  the  following  char- 
acteristic letter : — 

"  Epworth,  May  14,  1734. 

"  Mr  Stephenson, — As  soon  as  I  heard  from  John  Brown  that 
your  kinswoman  Stephenson  had  writ  to  you  for  her  son  Timothy, 
and  that  you  had  desired  her  to  send  for  him  up,  I  spoke  to 
several  of  my  best  parishioners,  Mr  John  Maw,  Mr  Barnard,  and 
others,  that  we  might  be  as  kind  to  him  as  we  have  been  to  others, 
who  have  beeji  put  apprentices  at  the  public  charge,  which  could 
be  done  but  meanly  at  £5,  though  his  mother  should  be  able  to 
provide  a  few  shoes  and  stockings  besides  for  him.  I  went  twice, 
on  your  account  and  his,  to  a  public  meeting  at  the  church,  be- 
fore I  had  seen  the  mother  or  the  boy,  but  the  highest  sum  we 
could  bring  our  people  to,  in  order  to  make  a  man  of  him,  was 
no  more  than  £3,  which  I  knew  was  far  short  of  the  requisite 
amount.  On  Sunday  last  I  went  and  talked  to  Mr  John  Maw 
and  Mr  Barnard,  and  we  resolved  to  make  up  tlie  rest  by  a 
private  contribution  among  ourselves.  The  next  day,  I  sent  for 
the  lad  and  his  mother  to  my  house,  and  accordingly  they  came. 
I  found  he  was  a  lad  of  spirit,  and  that  he  would  please  you. 
I  encouraged  them  both,  and  told  his  mother  that  she  might  de- 
pend on  £5,  besides  what  she  herself  could  do  to  set  him  out. 

*  Methodist  Magazine,  1845,  p.  38.  t  Wesley  Family. 


AGE  72.]  LETTERS.  425 

This  was  all  that  I  could  do  for  him,  and  if  herein  I  have  been 
over-officious  I  hope  you  will,  at  least,  excuse  it  from  your  obliged 
friend,  Samuel  Wesley."* 

At  this  period,  General  Oglethorpe  had  become  a  man  of  mark 
in  England.  After  finishing  his  education  at  Corpus  Christi  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  he  was  appointed  secretary  and  aide-de-camp  to 
Prince  Eugene,  under  whom  he  acted  at  the  famous  siege  of  Bel- 
grade. While  on  the  Continent,  a  prince  of  Wirtemberg,  with 
whom  he  was  at  table,  took  up  a  glass  of  wine,  and  threw  a  por- 
tion of  its  contents  into  his  face.  "  That 's  a  good  joke,  my 
prince,"  said  young  Oglethorpe,  smiling,  "  but  we  do  it  much 
better  in  England ; "  and  so  saying  he  dashed  a  glass  full  of  wine 
at  his  Serene  Highness  in  return.  Keturning  to  England  about 
1722,  Oglethorpe  became  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  for 
Haslemere,  which  he  represented  in  five  successive  parliaments, 
from  1722  to  1754.  In  1729,  having  found  a  friend  suffering 
most  barbarous  treatment  in  the  Elect  Prison,  and  taking  the 
precedence  of  John  Howard,  he  called  the  attention  of  the  House 
of  Commons  to  the  fact,  and  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee to  examine  into  the  state  of  prisons,  where  cruelties  of 
the  most  revolting  description  had  long  been  practised.  About 
the  same  period,  some  charitable  person  bequeathed  to  Oglethorpe 
and  others  a  large  some  of  money  in  trust,  to  procure  the  dis- 
charge of  poor  debtors  ;  and  Oglethorpe,  soon  afterwards,  obtained 
a  grant  of  £10,000  from  government,  and  also  a  very  liberal 
public  subscription,  to  enable  the  liberated  insolvents  to  emigrate 
to  Georgia.  He  proceeded  to  that  country  at  the  head  of  such  a 
body  of  settlers  about  the  year  1733,  and  returned  to  England  in 
1734,  bringing  with  him  some  Indian  chiefs,  who  were  presented 
to  the  king. 

Immediately  after  his  arrival,"!*  Mr  Wesley  addressed  to  him  the 
following  letter  respecting  his  "Dissertations  on  the  Book  of  Job ;" 
and  it  is  possible  that  this  letter  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  causes, 
which,  in  1735,  led  John  and  Charles  Wesley  to  accompany  the 
general  to  his  newly-formed  colony  : — 

"  Epworth,  July  6,  1734. 

"  HoNOUEED  SiK, — May  I  be  admitted,  while  such  crowds  of 

*  Wesky  Family.  t  Oglethorpe  arrived  on  the  16th  of  June. 


426  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l734. 

our  nobility  and  gentry  are  pouring  in  their  congratulations,  to 
press,  with  my  poor  mite  of  thanks,  into  the  presence  of  one  who 
so  well  deserves  the  title  of  Universal  Benefactor  to  mankind.  It 
is  not  only  your  valuable  favours  on  many  occasions  to  my  son, 
late  of  Westminster,  and  to  myself,  when  I  was  not  a  little  pressed 
in  the  world,  nor  your  more  extensive  and  generous  charity  to 
the  poor  prisoners  ;  it  is  not  only  this  that  so  much  demands  my 
warmest  acknowledgments,  as  your  disinterested  and  immovable 
attachment  to  your  cou.ntry,  and  your  raising  a  new  country,  or 
rather  a  little  world  of  your  own,  in  the  midst  of  almost  wild 
woods  and  uncultivated  deserts,  where  men  may  live  free  and 
happy,  if  they  are  not  hindered  by  their  own  stupidity  and  folly, 
in  spite  of  the  unkindness  of  their  brother  mortals. 

"  Neither  ought  I  to  forget  your  singular  goodness  to  my  little 
scholar  and  parishioner,  John  Lyndal.  Since  he  went  over,  I  have 
received  some  money  for  him ;  and  it  seems  necessary  that  he 
should  make  a  slip  hither  into  Lincolnshire,  if  you  could  spare 
him  for  a  fortnight  or  a  month,  to  settle  his  affairs  with  his 
father's  creditors,  which  I  hope  he  may  now  nearly  do,  and  then 
he  will  have  a  clear  estate  left  of  about  £6  a-year,  to  dispose  of  as 
he  pleases.  I  hope  he  has  behaved  with  such  faithfulness  and 
industry,  since  he  has  had  the  honour  and  happiness  of  waiting 
upon  you,  as  not  to  have  forfeited  the  favour  of  so  good  a 
master.  * 

"  I  owe  you,  sir,  beside  this,  some  account  of  my  little  affairs 
since  the  beginning  of  your  expedition.  Notwithstanding  my  own 
and  my  son's  violent  illness,  which  held  me  half  a  year,  and  him 
above  a  twelvemonth,  I  have  made  a  shift  to  get  more  than  three 
parts  in  four  of  Jobf  printed  off,  and  both  the  printing,  paper,  and 
maps  hitherto  are  paid  for.  My  son,  John,  at  Oxford  (now  his 
elder  brother  is  gone  to  Tiverton)  takes  care  of  the  remainder  of 
the  impression  in  London ;  and  I  have  an  ingenious  artist  here 
with  me,  in  my  house  at  Epworth,  who  is  graving  and  working 
off  the  remaining  maps  and  figures  for  me,  so  that  I  hope,  if  the 
printer  does  not  hinder  me,  I  shall  have  the  whole  ready  by  next 
spring,  and  by  God's  leave  be  in  London  myself  to  deliver  the 
books  perfect.     I  print  five  hundred  copies,  as  in  my  proposals, 

*  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 

t  General  Oglethorpe  subscribed  for  nine  copies  of  the  "  Dissertations  on  the 
Book  of  Job,"  a  greater  number  than  was  subscribed  for  by  any  other  person. 


AGE  72.]  LETTEES.  427 

whereof  I  have  above  three  hundred  already  subscribed  for  ;  and 
among  my  subscribers,  fifteen  or  sixteen  English  Bishops,  with 
some  of  Ireland. 

"  I  have  not  yet  done  with  my  own  impertinent  nostrums.  I 
thank  God  I  find  I  creep  up  hill  more  than  I  did  formerly,  being- 
eased  of  the  weight  of  four  daughters  out  of  seven,  as  I  hope  I 
shall  of  the  fifth  in  a  little  longer. 

"When  Mr  Lyndal  comes  down,  I  shall  trouble  yoa  by  him 
with  a  copy  of  all  the  maps  and  figures  which  I  have  yet  printed, 
they  costing  me  no  more  than  the  paper  since  the  graving  is 
over.* 

"  If  you  will  please  herewith  to  accept  the  tender  of  my  most 
sincere  respect  and  gratitude,  you  will  thereby  confer  one  further 
obligation  on,  honoured  sir,  your  most  obedient  and  most  humble 
servant,  Samuel  WESLEY,"-f- 

The  following  letter  was  written  to  a  friend,  and  shows  his 
anxiety  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  all  with  whom  he  was  ac- 
quainted : — 

"Epwoeth,  near  Gainsboeough,  July  11,  1734. 
"  Deae  Feiend, — Though  I  have  not  been  worthy  to  hear  from 
you,  or  to  have  seen  any  letter  of  yours  since  I  saw  you  last,  yet  I 
cannot  but  retain  the  same  warmth  of  Christian  affection  for  you 
which  I  conceived  at  our  first  sight  and  acquaintance,  as  I  believe 
you  did  the  like  for  me  and  mine.  Your  friend  of  Queen's,  whom 
we  call  Nathaniel,  and  who  brought  us  the  last  good  news  of  your 
health,  is  gone  to  his  relations  in  Yorkshire,  but  promises  to  return 
and  meet  you  here,  when  you  and  your  friends  come  down  to  see 
us  at  our  fair,  in  August  next.  If  Charles  is  short  of  money,  pray 
tell  him  he  is  welcome  to  twenty  shillings  here  to  make  him  easier 
in  his  journey.  But  I  think  I  can  tell  you  of  what  will  please 
you  more  ;  for  last  Sunday,  at  the  sacrament,  it  was  darted  into 
my  mind  that  it  was  a  pity  you  and  your  company,  while  you  are 
here,  should  be  deprived  of  the  benefit  of  weekly  sacraments 
which  you  enjoy  where  you  are  at  present ;  and  I  therefore  re- 
solved, if  you  desire  it,  while  you  are  here,  to  have  the  communion 
every  Sunday ;  and,  lest  some  of  the  parish  should  grumble  at  it, 
the  offerings  of  us  who  communicate  will  defray  the  small  ex- 
*  Clarke's  Wedey  Family.  t  Methodist  Magazine,  1824,  p.  810. 


428  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l734. 

pense  of  it.  If  there  be  anything  else  which  you  can  desire,  and 
which  is  in  my  power  to  grant  or  procure,  you  are  hereby  already 
assured  of  it.  If  I  could  write  anything  kinder,  my  dear  friend, 
I  would  ;  and  I  shall  see  by  your  acceptance  of  it,  and  compliance 
with  it,  whether  you  believe  me,  your  sincere  friend,  and  half- 
namesake,  Samuel  Wesley."* 

The  following  letter  to  General  Oglethorpe  evinces  the  intense 
interest  he  felt  in  the  colony  of  Georgia,  for  which  his  two  sons, 
John  and  Charles,  embarked  eleven  months  afterwards  : — 

"  Epworth,  near  Gainsborough,  Nov.  7,  1734. 

"  Honoured  Sie, — I  am  at  length,  I  thank  God,  slowly  re- 
covering from  a  long  illness,  during  which  there  have  been  few 
days  or  nights  but  my  heart  has  been  working  hard  for  Georgia, 
and  for  my  townsman,  John  Lyndal.  It  is  in  answer  to  the 
favour  of  yours,  and  of  his  last,  that  I  write  these  to  both.  I  am 
extremely  concerned  lest  an  inundation  of  ruin  should  break  in 
upon  your  colony,  and  destroy  that,  as  it  has  almost  done  some 
others.  But  I  have  some  better  hopes,  because  I  hear  you  do  not 
design  to  plant  it  with  canes,  but  with  some  more  innocent,  and  I 
hope,  as  profitable  produce,  any  of  which,  whether  mulberries  or 
saffron,  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  were  begun  in  Georgia.  I  con- 
fess I  cannot  expect  God's  blessing,  even  on  the  greatest  industry, 
without  true  piety  and  the  fear  of  God.  I  had  always  so  dear  a 
love  for  your  colony  that  if  it  had  been  but  ten  years  ago,  I 
would  gladly  have  devoted  the  remainder  of  my  life  and  labours 
to  that  place,  and  think  I  might  before  this  time  have  conquered 
the  language  without  which  little  can  be  done  among  the  natives, 
if  the  Bishop  of  London  would  have  done  me  the  honour  to  have 
sent  me  thither,  as  perhaps  he  then  might,  but  that  is  now  over. 
However,  I  can  still  reach  them  with  my  prayers,  which  I  am  sure 
will  never  be  wanting. 

"  My  letter  to  Mr  Lyndal  relates  to  his  own  particular  affairs 
here  in  the  country  ;  for  though  his  effects  are  not  large,  they 
ought  by  no  means  to  be  neglected,  and  I  have  given  him  the 
best  advice  I  am  able  ;  but  if  your  wisdom  should  think  otherwise, 
I  desire  the  letter  may  be  sunk,  or  else  go  forward  to  him  by  the 
next  opportunity. 

*  Wesley  Family. 


AGE  72.]  LETTEKS.  429 

"  With  all  the  thanks  I  am  capable  of,  I  remember  your  kind- 
ness to  my  son,  formerly  of  Westminster,  to  myself,  and  to  my 
parishioner  Lyndal ;  and  am,  with  the  truest  respect  and  gratitude, 
your  honour's  most  obliged  and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Samuel  Wesley."* 

The  following  is  the  letter  to  Mr  Lyndal : — 

"  Epworth,  near  Gainsborough,  Nov.  7, 1734. 

Me  Lyndal, — I  have  not  been  a  little  concerned  for  the  un- 
settledness  of  your  affairs  at  Wroot.  I  have  somewhat  above  £10 
of  yours  in  my  hands,  and  think  the  best  and  the  honestest  way 
you  could  do,  would  be  to  pay  that  money,  as  far  as  it  will  go, 
towards  the  interest  of  what  your  father  had  taken  up  upon  his 
estate  while  he  was  living.  Mr  Epworth  has  brought  me  a  letter 
from  his  mother,  wherein  she  says  there  was  a  bond  of  £10,  and 
a  note  of  £20,  as  I  remember,  due  to  Mr  Epworth's  father.  She 
desired  you  would  pay  off  the  £10  with  interest,  and  they  would 
stay  for  the  £20.  I  told  him  that  could  not  be  done,  because 
there  was  so  little  money  amongst  us  all,  and  therefore  I  thought 
the  fairest  and  wisest  way  was  to  divide  the  money  I  had  in  my 
hand,  to  pay  the  interest  proportionally  as  far  as  it  would  go. 

"  As  for  your  estate,  which  is  in  the  tenure  of  Robert  Brumby, 
I  suppose  about  £5  or  £6  a  year,  I  think  it  would  be  best  for 
you  to  fix  two  or  three  trustees,  and  make  him  yearly  accountable 
to  them.  If  you  like  it,  I  will  be  one  of  them  myself  as  long  as 
I  live  ;  my  son,  Whitelamb,  would  be  another  ;  and  we  think  we 
could  persuade  Mr  Eomley,  the  schoolmaster,  to  be  the  third, 
who  so  well  understands  the  whole  matter. 

"I  find  your  father  owed  your  uncle,  John  Barrow,  £4,  10s., 
and  Goody  Stephenson  £5.  John  Barrow  is  willing  to  take  it 
when  you  can  pay  him,  without  interest,  and  so  should  Stephen- 
son, too,  but  only  she  is  poor,  and  therefore  I  will  give  her  five 
shillings  on  your  account,  if  you  think  fit.  Let  me  hear  from  you 
as  soon  as  you  can  after  the  receipt  of  this. 

"  And  now  I  have  some  little  inquiries  to  make  of  your  new 
country.  Whether  any  of  our  ministers  understand  their  lan- 
guage, and  can  preach  to  them  without  an  interpreter  ?  Whether 
they  speak  the  same  language  with  those  Indians  who  are  near 

*  Wesley  Family. 


430  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l734. 

tliem,  of  Saltsburg  cand  Carolina  ;  or  of  those  of  New  England, 
who,  I  know,  have  the  Bible  translated  into  their  lanofuage? 
Whether  your  Indians  have  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  their  own  lan- 
guage ?  which,  if  they  have,  I  desire  you  would  send  me  a  copy 
in  yonr  next.  In  all  which,  especially  in  loving  God  and  your 
neighbour,  you  would  exceedingly  oblige,  your  sincere  friend, 

"  Samuel  Wesley,"* 

These  two  letters  to  Oglethorpe  and  Lyndal  were  written  six 
days  after  the  burial  of  Mrs  Whitelamb,  Mr  Wesley's  daughter,  f 
Poor  Whitelamb  was  exceedingly  distressed  by  his  sad  bereave- 
ment, and,  in  the  depth  of  his  grief,  wished  to  go  to  Georgia. 
Hence  the  following  letter  to  Oglethorpe,  which  was  written  exactly 
a  month  after  the  former  one  : — 

"  Epwoeth,  Bee.  7,  1734. 

"  Dear  Sir, — I  cannot  express  how  much  I  am  obliged  by  your 
last  kind  and  instructive  letter  concerning  the  affairs  of  Georgia. 
I  could  not  read  it  over  without  sighing,  when  I  again  reflected  on 
my  own  age  and  infirmities,  which  made  such  an  expedition  utterly 
impracticable  for  me.  Yet  my  mind  worked  hard  about  it ;  and 
it  is  not  impossible  but  Providence  may  have  directed  me  to  such 
an  expedient  as  may  prove  more  serviceable  to  your  colony  than  I 
should  ever  have  been, 

"The  thing  is  thus  : — There  is  a  young  man,  who  has  been  with 
me  a  pretty  many  years,  and  assisted  me  in  my  work  on  Job  ;  after 
which  I  sent  him  to  Oxford,  to  my  son,  John  Wesley,  Fellow  of 
Lincoln  College,  who  took  care  of  his  education,  where  he  behaved 
himself  very  well,  and  improved  in  piety  and  learning.  Having 
got  him  into  deacon's  orders,  I  sent  for  him  down,  and  he  was  my 
curate  in  my  absence  in  London  ;  when  I  resigned  my  small  living 
of  Wroot  to  him,  and  he  was  instituted  and  inducted  there.  I 
likewise  consented  to  his  marrying  one  of  my  daughters,  there 
having  been  a  long  and  intimate  friendship  between  them.  But 
neither  he  nor  I  were  so  happy  as  to  have  them  livelong  together; 
for  she  died  in  child-bed  of  her  first  child.  He  was  so  inconsolable 
at  her  loss,  that  I  was  afraid  he  would  soon  have  followed  her  ;  to 
prevent  which,  I  desired  his  company  here  at  my  own  house,  that 

*  Wesley  Family.  +  Methodist  Magazine,  1845,  p.  151. 


AGE  72.]  LETTEES.  431 

he  might  have  some  amusement  and  business,  by  assisting  me  in 
my  cure  during  my  iUness. 

"  It  was  then,  sir,  I  just  received  the  favour  of  yours,  and  let  him 
see  it  for  his  diversion  ;  more  especially,  because  John  Lyndal  and 
he  had  been  fellow-parishioners  and  school-fellows  at  Wroot,  and 
had  no  little  kindness  one  for  the  other.  I  made  no  great  reflec- 
tion on  the  thing  at  first ;  but,  soon  after,  I  found  he  had  thought 
often  upon  it,  was  very  desirous  to  go  to  Georgia  himself,  and  wrote 
the  enclosed  letter  to  me  on  the  subject.  As  I  knew  not  of  any 
person  more  proper  for  such  an  undertaking,  I  thought  the  least  I 
could  do  was  to  send  the  letter  to  your  honour,  who  would  be  so 
very  proper  a  judge  of  the  aflair  ;  and,  if  you  approve,  I  shall  not 
be  wanting  in  my  addresses  to  my  Lord  Bishop  of  London,  or  any 
other,  since  I  expect  to  be  in  London  myself  at  spring,  to  forward 
the  matter,  as  far  as  it  will  go. 

"  As  for  his  character,  I  shall  take  it  upon  myself  to  say,  that  he 
is  a  good  scholar,  a  sound  Christian,  and  a  good  liver.  He  has  a 
very  happy  memory,  especially  for  languages,  and  a  judgment  and 
intelligence  not  inferior.  My  eldest  son  at  Tiverton  has  some 
knowledge  of  him,  concerning  whom  I  have  writ  to  him  since  your 
last  to  me.  My  two  others,  his  tutor  at  Lincoln,  and  my  third 
of  Christ  Church,  have  been  long  and  intimately  acquainted  with 
him  ;  and  I  doubt  not  but  they  will  give  him,  at  least,  as  just  a 
character  as  I  have  done. 

"  And  here  I  shall  drop  the  matter,  till  I  have  the  honour  of 
hearing  again  from  you  ;  and  shall  either  drop  it  or  prosecute  it, 
as  appears  most  proper  to  your  maturer  judgment ;  ever  remain- 
ing, your  honour's  most  sincere,  and  most  obliged  friend  and  ser- 
vant, Samuel  Wesley."  * 

These  are  remarkable  and  important  letters,  and  doubtless 
served  as  links,  in  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect,  which  led  to  the 
selection  of  John  anci  Charles  Wesley  for  the  mission  in  Georgia. 
The  missionary  spirit  was  a  passion  in  the  Wesley  family,  when 
Christian  missions  to  the  heathen  scarce  existed.  John  Wesley, 
after  being  ejected  from  his  church  living,  in  1662,  longed  to  go 
as  a  missionary,  first  to  Surinam,  and  afterwards  to  Maryland. 
Samuel  Wesley,  his  son,  when  a  young  man  of  between  thirty 
and  forty  years  of  age,  formed  a  magnificent  scheme  to  go  as  a 
*  Wesley  Family. 


432  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l734. 

missionary  to  India,  China,  and  Abyssinia ;  and,  in  the  last  year 
of  his  life,  most  feelingly  laments  that  he  was  not  young  enough 
to  go  to  Georgia.  His  sons,  John  and  Charles,  now  at  Oxford, 
caught  his  spirit,  and,  within  twelve  months  after  the  date  of  the 
last  letter,  actually  went.  John  Whitelamb,  his  son-in-law,  wished 
to  go  ;  but,  for  some  unknown  reason,  was  kej^t  at  home. 

As  already  stated,  Oglethorpe  went  to  Georgia  in  1733,  with  a 
number  of  released  debtors,  who  were  the  first  settlers  in  the  colony. 
These  were  joined  by  a  number  of  persecuted  Protestants,  who  had 
been  driven  from  Salzburg,  a  city  of  Bavaria,  by  the  archbishop  of 
the  place.  On  October  14,  1735,  six  months  after  Samuel  "Wes- 
ley's death,  Oglethorpe  re-embarked  for  Georgia,  with  five  hundred 
and  seventy  adventurers,  among  whom  were  one  hundred  and  thirty 
Highlanders,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy  Germans,  of  whom  a 
considerable  number  were  Moravians.  *  The  trustees  of  the  colony 
requested  John  Wesley  and  some  of  his  friends  to  accompany  the 
emigrants.  Wesley  consulted  his  widowed  mother.  Her  answer 
was  :  "Had  I  twenty  sons,  I  should  rejoice  they  were  all  so  well 
employed,  though  I  should  never  see  them  more."  "f  The  thing 
was  settled,  and  away  Wesley  went,  his  brother  Charles,  and  their 
Oxford  friends,  Benjamin  Ingham  and  Charles  Delamotte,  going 
with  him. 

Samuel  Wesley  strongly  wished  his  son  John  to  be  his  successor 
at  Epworth  ;  but  John,  four  months  before  his  father's  death,  de- 
cisively declined  the  proposal.  He  was  resolved  to  remain  at 
Oxford,  because  he  imagined  he  could  be  holier  at  Oxford  than 
he  could  be  anywhere  else.  The  rector  died,  and  then  his  son 
changed  his  mind,  and  set  out  on  the  very  mission  upon  which  his 
father  had  set  his  heart,  and  to  be  engaged  in  which  he  would,  if 
he  had  been  ten  years  younger,  have  gladly  relinquished  Epworth 
Church.  The  following  letter  refers  to  John  Wesley's  final  re- 
fusal of  his  father's  proposition.  It  was  written  to  Samuel  Wes- 
ley, jun.,  four  months  previous  to  Mr  Wesley's  decease  : — 

"  Epworth,  Dec.  4, 1734. 

"  Dear  Son, — Having  pretty  many  things  to  write  to  you,  and 

those  of  no  small  moment ;  and  being  for  the  most  part  confined 

to  my  house  by  pain  and  weakness,  so  that  I  have  not  yet  ventured 

to  church  on  a  Sunday,  I  have  just  now -sat  down  to  try  if  I  can 

*   Wesley  Family,  vol,  ii.  p-.  175.        +  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  234, 


AGE  72.]  LETTEES.  433 

reduce  my  tlioiiglits  into  any  tolerable  order.  Though  I  can  write 
but  few  lines  in  a  day,  yet  being  under  my  own  hand,  they  may 
not  be  the  less  acceptable  to  you. 

"  I  shall  throw  what  I  have  a  mind  you  shall  know,  under  three 
heads — 1.  What  most  immediately  concerns  our  own  family.  2. 
Dick  Ellison,  the  wen  of  my  family,  and  his  poor  insects  that  are 
sucking  me  to  death.  3.  J.  "Whitelamb  ; — and,  perhaps,  in  a  post- 
script, a  little  of  my  own  personal  affairs,  and  of  the  poor. 

"1.  Of  our  family.  Your  brother  John  has  at  last  writ  me, 
'  that  it  is  now  his  unalterable  resolution  not  to  accept  of  Epworth 
living,  if  he  could  have  it  ;'  and  the  reason  he  gives  for  it  in  these 
words  : — '  The  question  is  not  whether  I  could  do  more  good  to 
others  there  or  here,  but  whether  I  could  do  more  good  to  myself  ; 
seeing  wherever  I  can  be  most  holy  myself,  there,  I  am  assured,  I 
can  most  promote  holiness  in  others.  But  I  am  equally  assured 
there  is  no  place  under  heaven  so  fit  for  my  improvement  as  Ox- 
ford.    Therefore,'  &c. 

"  Thus  stands  his  argument.  Though  I  am  no  more  fond  of 
the  gripping  and  wrangling  distemper  than  I  am  of  Mr  Harper's  * 
boluses  and  clysters,  (for  age  would  again  have  rest,)  I  sat  myself 
down  to  try  if  I  could  unravel  his  sophisms,  and  hardly  one  of  his 
assertions  appeared  to  me  to  be  universally  true,  I  think  the  main 
of  my  answer  was,  that  he  seemed  to  mistake  the  end  of  academi- 
cal studies,  which  were  chiefly  preparatory,  in  order  to  qualify  men 
to  instruct  others. 

"  He  thinks  there  is  no  place  so  fit  for  his  improvement  as  Ox- 
ford. As  to  many  sorts  of  useful  knowledge,  it  may  be  nearly 
true  ;  but  surely  there  need  be  a  knowledge,  too,  of  men  and  things 
(which  has  not  been  thought  the  most  attainable  in  a  cloister)  as 
well  as  of  books,  or  else  we  shall  find  ourselves  of  much  less  use 
in  the  world. 

"But  the  best  and  greatest  improvement  is  in  solid  piety  and 
religion,  which  (in  Oxford)  is  handy  to  be  got,  or  promoted,  by 
being  hung  up  in  Socrates'  basket.  But  allowing  that  austerity 
and  mortification  may  either  be  a  means  of  promoting  holiness,  or, 
in  some  degree,  a  part  of  it,  why  may  not  a  man  exercise  these  in 
his  own  house  as  strictly  as  in  any  college,  in  any  university  in 
Europe,  and,  jDerhaps,  with  les&  censxire  and  observation  ?  Neither 
can  I  understand  the  meaning  or  drift  of  being  thus  ever  learning, 

*  His  sou-in-law,  who  was  a  doctor  at  Epworth. 

2e 


434  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l7?.4. 

and  never  coming  to  a  due  i3roficiency  in  the  knowledge  and  prac- 
tice of  the  truth,  so  as  to  be  able  commendably  to  instruct  others 
in  it. 

"  Thus  far  I  have  written  with  my  own  hand,  both  to  you  and 
your  brother,  for  many  days  together ;  but  I  am  now  so  heartily 
tired  that  I  must,  contrary  to  my  resolution,  get  my  son  White- 
lamb  to  transcribe  and  finish  it.  I  have  done  what  I  could, 
with  such  a  shattered  head  and  body,  to  satisfy  the  scruples  which 
your  brother  has  raised  against  my  proposal,  from  conscience  and 
duty  ;  but  if  your  way  of  thinking  be  the  same  with  mine,  especi- 
ally after  you  have  read  and  weighed  what  follows,  you  will  be  able 
to  convince  him  in  a  much  clearer  and  stronger  manner. 

"The  remaining  considerations  I  offered  to  him  were  for  the 
most  part  such  ^s  follow : — I  urged,  among  other  things,  the 
great  precariousness  of  my  own  health,  and  the  sensible  decay  of 
my  strength,  so  that  he  would  hardly  know  me  if  he  saw  me  now ; 
the  deplorable  state  in  which  I  should  leave  your  mother  and  the 
family,  and  the  loss  of  near  forty  years'  honest  labour  in  this  place' 
where  I  could  expect  no  other,  but  that  the  field  which  I  have  been 
so  long  sowing  with  good  seed,  and  the  vineyard,  which  I  have 
planted  with  no  ignoble  vine,  must  be  soon  rooted  up,  and  the 
fences  of  it  broken  down, — for  I  am  morally  satisfied,  if  your 
brothers  both  slight  it,  Mr  P will  be  my  successor. 

"  I  hinted  at  one  thing,  which  I  mentioned  in  my  letter  to  your 
brother,  whereon  I  depend  more  than  upon  all  my  own  simple 
reasoning ;  and  that  is,  earnest  prayer  to  Him  who  smiles  at  the 
strongest  resolutions  of  mortals,  and  can,  in  a  moment,  change  or 
demolish  them  ;  who  alone  can  bend  the  inflexible  sinew,  and  order 
the  irregular  wills  of  us  simple  men  to  His  own  glory,  and  to  our 
happiness.  While  the  anchor  holds,  I  despair  of  nothing,  but 
firmly  believe  that  He  who  is  best  will  do  what  is  best,  whether 
we  earnestly  will  it  or  will  it' not.  There  I  rest  the  whole  matter, 
and  leave  it  with  Him,  to  whom  I. have  committed  all  my  concerns, 
without  exception  and  without  reserve,  for  soul  and  body,  estate 
and  family,  time  and  eternity.  * 

*  Samuel  Wesley,  jun.,  wrote  to  his  brother  John  the  day  after  he  received  this 
letter  from  his  father ;  and  a  sharp  correspondence  was  carried  on  between  the  two 
brothers,  until  the  4th  of  March  1735,  which  was  within  two  months  of  their 
father's  death.  John,  however,  at  that  time,  remained  as  iirmly  convinced  as  ever 
that  he  could  serve  God  and  his  Church  better  at  Oxford  than  he  could  if  he  re- 
moved to  Epworth. — Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.'i.  p.  231. 


AGE  72.]  LETTERS.  435 

"  2.  As  to  the  second  part  of  my  letter  concerning  E.  Ellison  * 
I  have  charity  crammed  down  my  throat  every  day,  and  some- 
times his  company  at  meals,  which  you  will  believe  as  pleasant  to 
me  as  all  my  physic.  But  this  is  beyond  the  reach  of  all  my 
little  prudence,  and  therefore  I  find  I  must  leave  it  as  I  have 
done,  in  some  good  measure  before,  to  Him  who  orders  all 
things. 

"  o.  The  third  part  of  my  letter  is  in  relation  to  my  son  White- 
lamb,  and  is  of  almost  as  great  concern  as  the  former,  and  on 
some  accounts  perhaps  greater.f  You  will  find  the  whole  affair 
contained  in  a  letter  I  lately  sent  to  Mr  Oglethorpe,  and  in  my 
son  Whitelamb's  to  myself.  The  letters  are  so  full,  that  they 
have  exhausted  what  we  had  to  say  on  that  subject ;  and  nothing 
at  present  need  or  can  be  added.  I  desire  you  therefore  to  weigh 
the  whole  with  the  utmost  impartiality ;  and,  if  you  are  of  the 
same  mind  with  myself  and  your  mother,  who  entirely  approves 
of  the  design,,  that  you  would  yourself  write  to  Mr  Oglethorpe, 
as  I  promised  you  would,  and  send  him  your  thoughts,  and  use 
your  good  offices  about  it. 

"  And  now,  as  to  my  minute  affairs,  I  doubt  not  but  you  will, 
as  you  gave  me  hopes  when  you  went  into  Devon,  improve  your 
interest  among  the  gentlemen,  your  friends,  and  get  me  some 
more  subscribers,  as  likewise  an  account  whether  there  be  any 
prospect  yet  remaining  of  obtaining  any  favour  from  the  Duke 
of  Newcastle,  in  relation  to  the  affair. :|: — Yours, 

"  Samuel  Wesley.  "§ 

The  last  letter  we  shall  introduce  is  a  review  of  his  life,  and 
therefore  an  appropriate  conclusion  of  the  present  chapter. 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  Mr  Wesley  had  a  brother, 
named  Matthew,  who  practised  as  a  physician  in  London.  There 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  much  intimacy  between  the  two 
brothers;  but,  after  the  fire  at  Epworth  in  1709,  Matthew  took 

*  This  was  the  rich  man  who  married  Sukey  Wesley,  and  whom  Mrs  Wesley 
spoke  of  as  being  little  inferior  to  the  apostate  angels  in  wickedness. 

+  This  again  shows  the  high  importance  which  Samuel  Wesley  attached  to  the 
mission  in  Georgia ;  and  is  proof  sufficient  that  had  he  been  alive,  the  going  of  his 
two  sons,  John  and  Charles  to  that  colony,  would  have  had  his  hearty  approval. 

J  The  Duke  of  Newcastle  was  at  this  time  Secretary  of  State,  and  had  prob- 
ably been  requested  to  obtain  the  consent  of  Queen  Caroline  to  allow  Mr  Wesley 
to  dedicate  to  her  his  "  Dissertations  on  the  Book  of  Job." 

§  Wesley  Family. 


436  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY."  [1734. 

to  his  house  his  brother's  two  children,  Hetty  and  Susan  ;  and 
afterwards  in  1720,  he,  in  a  similar  manner,  took  Patty,  who  lived 
in  his  house  for  twelve  years,  and  to  whom,  on  her  marriage,  he 
gave  a  dowry  of  £500.  Matthew  Wesley  was  a  man  of  consider- 
able wealth  ;  but  he  had  obtained  it  by  unwearied  diligence,  and 
by  the  utmost  economy.  He  knew  next  to  nothing  of  the 
troubles  of  a  family,  and  was  ill-qualified  to  judge  of  family 
expenses. 

In  1731,  accompanied  by  his  man-servant,  he  started,  from 
London  to  Epworth  on  a  visit  to  his  brother.  He  travelled  under 
a  feigned  name,  and.  intended  to  take  his  brother  by  surprise ; 
but  his  man  not  being  so  taciturn  as  himself,  the  secret  oozed  out, 
and  the  family  were  prepared  for  his  coming.  The  first  day  after 
his  arrival  he  spoke  little  to  the  children,  being  employed  in  ob- 
serving their  behaviour,  so  that  he  might  know  how  he  ought  to 
like  them.  He  was  strangely  scandalised  at  the  j)Oor  furniture  of 
the  parsonage,  and  at  the  meanness  of  the  children's  clothing, 
and  wondered  what  his  brother  had  done  with  all  his  income 
He  ahvays  behaved  himself  decently  at  family  prayers,  and,  when 
Mr  Wesley  was  absent,  said  grace  before  and  after  meat.  On  his 
return  to  London,  he  wrote  a  severe  and  caustic  letter  to  his 
brother,  accusing  him  of  bad  economy,  and  of  not  making  pro- 
vision for  his  large  family.  Part  of  this  strange  epistle  was  as 
follows  : — 

"  The  same  record  which  assures  us  an  infidel  cannot  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  also  asserts,  in  the  consequence,  that  a 
worse  than  infidel  can  never  do  it.  It  likewise  describes  the 
character  of  such  a  one  :  '  He  provides  not  for  his  own,  espe- 
cially for  those  of  his  own  house.' 

"  You  have  a  numerous  offspring ;  you  have  had  a  long  time  a 
plentiful  estate,  and  have  made  no  provision  for  those  of  your 
own  house,  who  can  have  nothing  in  view  at  your  exit  but  distress. 
This  I  think  a  black  account ;  let  the  cause  be  folly,  or  vanity,  or 
ungovernable  appetites.  I  hope  Providence  has  restored  you  again 
to  give  you  time  to  settle  this  balance,  which  shocks  me  to  think 
of.  To  this  end,  I  must  advise  you  to  be  frequent  in  your  per- 
usal of  Father  Beveridge  on  Rejyentance,  and  Dr  Tillotson  on 
Restitution  ;  for  it  is  not  saying  Lord,  Lord,  will  bring  us  to  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  but  doing  justice  to  all  our  fellow-creatures ; 
and  not  a  poetical  imagination  that  we  do  so.     A  serious  con- 


AGE  72.]         •  LETTEKS.  437 

sideration  of  these  things,  and  suitable  actions,  I  doubt  not,  will 
qualify  you  to  meet  me  where  sorrow  shall  be  no  more,  which  is 
the  highest  hojoe  and  expectation  of  yours, 

"  Matthew  Wesley."  * 

This  is  an  unjust,  unfeeling,  disreputable  letter,  and  it  is 
certainly  surprising  that  Mehetabel  Wesley,  when  her  uncle  died 
six  years  after,  should  have  so  eulogised  his  character  as  she  did, 
in  her  elegy,  published  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  17*37. 
He  might  be  a  man  of  much  learning  and  information,  a  good  judge 
and  lover  of  poetry,  and  clever  in  his  profession ;  but  the  above 
epistle  makes  one  doubt  that  he  was  "  a  man  of  truly  benevolent 
mind,"  and  prepares  one  to  receive  Patty  Wesley's  statement  re- 
specting him,  written  a  year  before  the  time  of  his  Epworth  visit, 
viz.,  that  he  was  not  converted,  nor  what  he  ought  to  be.f  He 
seems  to  have  been  highly  esteemed  for  his  professional  ability 
and  services ;  but  a  stranger  to  pure,  earnest,  heartfelt  godliness. 
He  treated  John  Wesley's  mission  to  Georgia  with  ridicule,  and 
told  Charles  that,  "  if  the  French  had  any  remarkably  dull  fellow 
among  them,  they  sent  him  to  convert  the  Indians."  Charles 
says  he  checked  and  silenced  his  uncle's  art  and  eloquence  by 
repeating  the  lines  of  his  brother : — 

"  To  distant  realms  the  apostle  need  not  roam, 
Darkness,  alas  !  and  heathens  are  at  home."  + 

A  few  months  before  his  death,  Samuel  Wesley  replied  to  his 
brother's  accusations,  in  a  long  letter,  twenty  lines  of  which  were 
written  by  himself,  about  one-half  of  it  by  Mrs  Wesley,  and 
the  remainder  by  his  son  John,  who  acted  as  his  amanuenses. 
The  letter,  which  is  without  date,  is  written  in  a  serio-jocose  style, 
and  is  headed  "  John  o'  Styles'  Apology  against  the  imputation  of 
his  ill  husbandry."  A  friend  is  represented  as  reading  Matthew 
Wesley's  letter  to  his  brother,  John  o'  Styles,  and  as  reporting 
the  brother's  answer  to  the  charges  brought  against  him.  The 
pretended  narrator  says  : — 

"  When  I  had  read  this  to  my  friend  John  o'  Styles,  I  was  a 

little  surprised  that  he  did  not  fall  into  flouncing  and  bouncing, 

as  I  have  too  often  seen  him  do  on  far  less  provocation,  which  I 

ascribed  to  a  tit  of  sickness  he  had  lately  had,  and  which  I  hope 

*  Weshy  Fmiihj.  +  I^ul,  vol.  ii.  p.  32i. 

X  C.  AVesley's  Journal,  vol.  i.  p.  59. 


438  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l734. 

may  have  brought  hira  to  something  of  a  better  mind.  He  stood 
calm  and  composed  for  a  minute  or  two,  and  then  desired  he 
might  peruse  the  letter,  adding,  that  if  the  matter  of  fact  therein 
were  true,  and  not  aggravated  or  misrepresented,  he  was  obliged 
in  conscience  to  acknowledge  it,  and  ask  pardon  at  least  of  his 
family,  if  he  could  make  them  no  other  satisfaction.  If  it  were 
not  true,  he  owed  that  justice  to  himself  and  his  family,  to  clear 
himself  of  so  vile  an  imputation.  After  he  had  read  it  over  he 
said  he  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  the 
history  of  his  whole  life,  from  sixteen  to  upwards  of  seventy  ;  but 
he  would  make  some  general  observations  on  those  general  accusa- 
tions which  have  been  brought  against  him,  and  then  would  add 
some  balance  of  his  incomes  and  expenses  ever  since  he  entered 
on  the  stage  of  life, 

"  The  sum  of  the  libel  may  be  reduced  to  the  following  asser- 
tions : — 1.  That  John  o'  Styles  is  worse  than  an  infidel,  and 
therefore  can  never  go  to  heaven  ;  which  secondly,  he  aims  at  prov- 
ing, because  he  provides  not  for  his  own  house  ;  as  notorious  in- 
stances of  which,  he  adds,  in  the  third  place,  that  in  the  pursuits 
of  his  pleasures  he  had  produced  a  numerous  offspring,  and  has 
had  a  long  time  a  plentiful  estate,  and  great  and  generous  bene- 
factors, but  yet  has  made  no  provision  for  those  of  his  own  house  ; 
which  he  thinks,  in  the  last  place,  a  black  account,  let  the  cause 
be  folly,  or  vanity,  or  his  own  irregular  passions. 

"  Ansiver. — If  God  has  blessed  him  with  a  numerous  offspring, 
he  has  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  them,  nor  they  of  him,  unless 
perhaps  one  of  them.  Neither  does  his  conscience  accuse  him 
that  he  has  made  no  provision  for  those  of  his  own  house  ;  which 
general  accusation  includes  them  all.  But  has  he  none,  nay,  not 
above  one,  two,  or  three,  to  whom  he  has  given  the  best  education 
which  England  could  afford,  by  God's  blessing  on  which  they 
live  honourably  and  comfortably  in  the  world  ?  Some  of  them 
had  already  been  a  considerable  help  to  the  others,  as  well  as  to 
himself ;  and  he  has  no  reason  to  doubt  the  same  of  the  rest,  as 
soon  as  God  shall  enable  them  to  do  it.  There  are  many  gentle- 
men's families  in  England  who,  by  the  same  method,  provide  for 
their  younger  children ;  and  he  hardly  thinks  that  there  are  many 
of  greater  estates  but  would  be  glad  to  change  the  best  of  theirs, 
or  even  all  their  stock,  for  almost  the  worst  of  his, 

"  Neither  is  he  ashamed  in  claiming  some  merit  in  his  having 


AGE  72.]  LETTEES.  439 

been  so  happy  in  breeding  tliem  up  in  his  own  principles  and 
practices — not  only  the  priests  in  his  family,  but  all  the  rest — to  a 
steady  opposition  and  confederacy  against  all  such  as  are  avowed 
and  declared  enemies  to  God  and  his  clergy,  and  who  deny  or  dis- 
believe any  articles  of  natural  or  revealed  religion,  as  well  as  to  such 
as  are  ojaen  or  secret  friends  to  the  Great  Rebellion,  or  to  any  such 
principles  as  do  but  squint  towards  the  same  practices ;  so  that 
he  hopes  they  are  all  staunch  High-Church,  and  for  inviolable  pas- 
sive obedience  ;  *  from  which,  if  any  of  them  should  be  so  wicked 
as  to  degenerate,  he  cannot  tell  whether  he  could  prevail  with 
himself  to  give  them  his  blessing ;  though,  at  the  same  time,  he 
almost  equally  abhors  all  servile  submission  to  the  greatest  and 
most  overgrown  tool  of  State,  whose  avowed  design  it  is  to  aggran- 
dise his  prince  at  the  expense  of  the  liberties  and  properties  of  his 
freeborn  subjects.'f* 

"  Thus  much  for  John  o'  Styles'  ecclesiastical  and  political 
creed ;  and,  as  he  hopes,  for  those  of  his  family.  And  as  his 
adversary  adds,  that  '  at  his  exit  they  could  have  nothing  in  view 
but  distress,  and  that  it  is  a  black  account,  let  the  cause  be  folly, 
or  vanity,  or  ungovernable  appetites ; '  John  o'  Styles  answered  : 
He  has  not  the  least  doubt  of  God's  provision  for  his  family  after 
his  decease,  if  they  continue  in  the  way  of  righteousness.  As  for 
his  folly,  he  owns  he  can  hardly  demur  to  the  charge ;  for  he 
fairly  acknowledges  he  never  was,  nor  ever  will  be,  like  the  child- 
ren of  this  world,  who  are  accounted  wise  in  their  generation,  in 
doting  upon  this  world,  courting  this  world,  and  regarding  nothing 
else  :  not  but  that  he  has  all  his  life  laboured  truly  both  with  his 
hands,  head,  and  heart,  to  j^rovide  things  honest  in  the  sight  of 
all  men,  to  get  his  own  living,  and  that  of  those  who  have  been 
dependents  on  him. 

"  As  for  his  vanity,  he  challenges  an  instance  to  be  given  of 
any  extravagance  in  any  single  branch  of  his  expenses  through 
the  whole  course  of  his  life,  either  in  dress,  diet,  horses,  recrea- 
tion, or  diversion,  either  in  himself  or  family. 

"  Now  if  these,  which  are  the  main  objections,  are  wiped  off, 

*  "  This  is  a  sly  hit  at  Matthew  Wesley,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  Dis- 
senter, and  who  was  thought  by  some  to  be  indifferent  to  all  forms  of  religion." 
— See  Wesley  Family,  vol.  i.  p.  86. 

t  This  shaft  seems  to  be  levelled  against  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  or  perhaps 
Sir  Robert  Walpole. 


440  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l734. 

what  becomes  of  the  black  account,  or  of  the  worse  than  infidelity 
which  this  Sever  us  Frater  et  Avunculus  Puerorum  has,  in  the 
plenitude  of  his  power,  urged,  to  exclude  those,  who,  for  want  of 
equal  illumination  or  equal  estates,  think  or  act  differently  from 
himself,  out  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ? 

"  As  for  the  plentiful  estates,  and  great  and  generous  benefac- 
tions which  he  likewise  mentions,  the  jjersou  accused  answered, 
that  he  could  never  acknowledge  as  he  oucrht  the  goodness  of 
God  and  of  his  generous  benefactors ;  but  hopes  he  may  add,  that 
he  had  never  tasted  so  much  of  their  kindness  if  they  had  not 
believed  him  to  be  an  honest  man. 

"  Thus  much  he  said  in  general,  but  added  as  to  particular 
instances,  he  should  only  add  a  blank  balance,  and  leave  it  to  any 
after  his  death  to  cast  it  up  according  to  common  equity ;  and 
then  they  would  be  more  proper  judges  whether  he  deserved  those 
imputations  which  are  now  thrown  upon  him. 

"  Imprimis. — When  he  first  walked  to  Oxford  he 
had  in  cash,  .         .         .          .         .          .          .£250 

"  He  lived  there  till  he  took  his  bachelor's  degree, 
without  any  preferment  or  assistance,  except  one 
crown,  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .          0     5     0 

"  By  God's  blessing  on  his  own  industry  he  brought 
to  London,     . 10  15     0 

"  When  he  came  to  London  he  got  deacon's  orders 
and  a  cure,  for  which  he  had,  for  one  year,       .         .       28     0     0 

"  In  which  year,  for  his  board,  ordination,  and  habit, 
he  was  indebted  £30,  which  he  afterwards  paid,        .       30     0     0 

"  When  he  went  to  sea,  where  he  had  for  one  year 
£70,  not  paid  till  two  years  after  his  return,    .         .       70     0     0 

"  He  then  got  a  curacy  at  £30  per  annum  for  two 
years,  and  by  his  own  industry  in  writing,  &c.,  he 
made  it  £60  per  annum, 120     0     0 

"  He  married  and  had  a  son ;  and  he  and  his  wife  and  child 
boarded  for  some  years  in  or  near  London  without  running  into 
debt. 

"  He  had  then  a  living  given  him  in  the  country,  let  for  £50 
per  annum,  where  he  had  five  children  more ;  in  which  time,  and 
while  he  lived  in  London,  he  wrote  a  book,  which  he  dedicated  to 
Queen  Mary,  who  for  that  reason  gave  him  a  living  in  the  country, 
valued  at  £200  per  annum,  where  he  remained  for  nearly  forty 


AGE  72.]  LETTERS.  44?1 

years,  and  wherein  his  numerous  offspring  amounted,  with  the 
former,  to  eighteen  or  nineteen  children. 

"  Half  of  his  parsonage  was  first  burnt,  which  he  rebuilt :  "some 
time  after  the  whole  was  burnt  to  the  ground,  which  he  rebuilt 
from  the  foundations  ;  and  it  cost  him  above  £400,  besides  the 
furniture,  none  of  which  was  saved,  and  he  was  forced  to  renew  it. 
"  About  ten  years  since,  he  got  a  little  living  adjoining  to  his 
former,  the  profits  of  which  very  little  more  than  defrayed  the 
expenses  of  serving  it,  and  sometimes  hardly  so  much ;  his  whole 
tithe  having  been  in  a  manner  swept  away  by  inundations,  for 
which  the  parishioners  had  a  brief,  though  he  thought  it  not 
decent  for  himself  to  be  joined  with  them  in  it. 

"  For  the  greater  part  of  these  last  ten  years,  he  has  been  closely 
employed  in  composing  a  large  book,  whereby  he  hoped  he  might 
have  done  some  benefit  to  the  world,  and  in  some  measure 
amended  his  own  fortunes.  By  sticking  so  close  to  this,  he  has 
broke  a  pretty  strong  constitution,  and  fallen  into  palsy  and  gout. 
Besides  this,  he  has  had  sickness  in  his  family  for  most  of  the 
years  since  he  was  married. 

"  His  greater  living  seldom  cleared  above  £160  per  annum, 
out  of  which  he  allowed  £20  per  annum  to  a  person  who  had 
married  one  of  his  daughters.  Could  we  on  the  whole  fix  the 
balance,  it  would  easily  appear  whether  he  had  been  an  ill  hus- 
band, or  careless  and  idle,  and  taken  no  care  of  his  family.  Let 
us  range  on  the  one  side  his  income,  and  on  the  other  his  expenses 
while  he  has  been  at  tlie  top  of  his  fortunes,  taking  them  at  the 
full  extent : — 
"  His  income  about  £200  "  Expended  in  sickness  for 

per    annum  for  near  above  forty  years,  £ ■ 

forty  years,       .         .  £8000     0     0  "Expenses   in   taking  his 

livings,  repairing 

houses,  &c.,         .         .      IGO     0     0 
"  Rebuilding   part   of   his 

house  the  first  time,  .        60     0     0 
"  Rebuilding     the    whole 

house,         .         .         .      400     0     0 

"  Furnishing  it,  .         .        • 

"  Eight  children  born  and 

buried,        .         .         .        


*  The  value  of  the  Epworth  living,  during  the  time  that  Mr  Wesley  held  it, 
was  never  more  than  £200  per  annum.  Mr  Kirk  states  that  the  same  living  is 
now  worth  £952  per  annum. 


442  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l734. 

"  Ten  (thank  God  !)  living, 
brought  up,  and  edu- 
cated,        .         .         . 

"  Most  of  the  daughters 
put  out  to  a  way  of 
living,         .         ,         . . 

"  To  three  sons  for  the 
best  education  I  could 
get  them  in  England, 

"  Attending  the  convoca- 
tion three  years,         .  £150      0     0 

"  Let  all  this  be  balanced,  and  then  a  guess  may  be  easily  made 
of  his  sorry  management. 

"  He  can  struggle  with  the  world,  but  not  with  Providence  ;  nor 
can  he  resist  sicknesses,  fires,  and  inundations."* 

Such  was  one  of  the  last  letters  that  Samuel  Wesley  ever  wrote  ; 
or  rather,  we  ought  to  say  dictated,  for  such  were  his  afflictions 
and  weakness,  that  nearly  the  whole  of  it  had  to  be  written  by  his 
wife  and  by  his  second  son,  who  penned  it  from  his  lii^s.  It  is  an 
ample  refutation  of  the  unnatural  charges  brought  against  him  by 
his  brother  ;  and  scatters  to  the  winds  the  vague  ideas  of  all  those 
who,  in  modern  times,  have  been  apt  to  think  of  Samuel  Wesley 
as  being,  upon  the  whole,  a  good-hearted  sort  of  man  ;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  in  some  way,  a  spendthrift,  and  one  who  very  culpably 
neglected  the  interests  of  his  wife  and  family.  All  this  is  un- 
founded, unjust,  and  cruel ;  the  result,  not  of  research,  but  of 
indolent  ignorance,  which  has  too  readily  taken  for  granted,  that 
which  it  ought,  first  of  all,  to  have  examined. 

*  Wesley  Family,  vol.  i.  p.  239. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

DEATH  AND  CHARACTER — 1735. 

Mr  Wesley  never  fully  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  serious 
accident  which  befell  him  in  1731 .  The  reader  will  have  perceived 
this  in  the  letters  given  in  the  previous  chapter.  Mrs  Wesley, 
writing  to  her  son  John,  says,  "  Your  father  is  in  a  very  bad  state 
of  health  ;  he  sleeps  little  and  eats  less.  He  seems  not  to  have 
any  apprehension  of  his  approaching  exit,  but  I  fear  he  has  but  a 
short  time  to  live.  'It  is  with  much  pain  and  difficulty  that  he 
performs  divine  service  on  the  Lord's-day,  which  sometimes  he 
is  obliged  to  contract  very  much.  Everybody  observes  his  decay 
but  himself."* 

Mr  Wesley  had  a  severe  illness  about  the  year  1733,  which 
totally  disabled  him  for  six  months.  The  first  two  sermons  he 
preached  after  this  affliction  were  from  the  words,  "  Jesus  findeth 
him  in  the  temple,  and  said  unto  him.  Behold,  thou  art  made 
whole ;  sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse  thing  come  unto  thee,"  (John 
v.  14.) 

The  last  two  sermons,  noted  in  his  memorandum-book,  were 
preached  at  Epworth,  August  18,  1734,  on  1  Sam,  xii.  17:  "Is  it 
not  wheat  harvest  to-day  ?  I  will  call  unto  the  Lord,"  &c.  After 
showing  that  unseasonable  weather,  in  time  of  harvest,  is  a  just 
judgment  inflicted  by  the  hand  of  God  for  the  wickedness  of  the 
people,  he  proceeds  to  address  his  congregation  thus  : — "  I  am 
afraid,  nay,  too  well  assured,  that  many  of  you  have  hardened 
your  hearts  as  did  Pharaoh  ;  for  otherwise,  how  came  the  house  of 
God  so  empty  here  la.st  Sunday  ?  The  peojjle  went  in  shameful 
droves  to  do  their  own  ways,  and  find  their  own  pleasures,  and 
speak  their  own  words  ;  and  left  a  very  small  flock  behind  them 

*  Wesley  Family. 


444  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

on  their  knees  to  cry  mightily  to  God  that  He  would  have  mercy 
upon  us,  that  we  might  not  j)erish."* 

There  is  no  evidence  that  Mr  Wesley  preached  after  this.  His 
death-bed  scene  was  exquisitely  beautiful.  His  sons,  John  and 
Charles,  were  present,  and  from  both  of  them  we  have  accounts 
of  it. 

John  Wesley,  in  a  letter  dated  March  22,  1748,  and  supposed 
to  be  written  to  Archbishop  Seeker,  says  : — "  My  father  did  not 
die  unacquainted  with  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  of  the  primitive 
Christians,  or  of  our  first  Reformers ;  the  same  which,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  I  preach,  and  which  is  just  as  new  as  Christianity- 
What  he  experienced  before  I  know  not ;  but  I  know  that,  during 
his  last  illness,  which  continued  eight  months,  he  enjoyed  a  clear 
sense  of  his  acceptance  with  God.  I  heard  him  express  it  more 
than  once,  although,  at  that  time,  I  imderstood  him  not.  '  The 
inward  witness,  son,  the  inward  witness,'  said  he  to  me,  '  that  is 
the  proof,  the  strongest  proof  of  Christianity.'  And  when  I  asked 
him  (the  time  of  his  change  drawing  nigh),  '  Sir,  are  you  in  much 
pain  ?'  He  answered  aloud  with  a  smile,  '"God  does  chasten  me 
with  pain,  yea,  all  my  bones  with  strong  pain ;  but  I  thank  Him 
for  all,  I  bless  Him  for  all,  I  love  Him  for  all !'  I  think  the  last 
words  he  spoke,  when  I  had  just  commended  his  soul  to  God, 
were,  '  Now  you  have  done  all ;'  and,  with  the  same  serene,  cheer- 
ful countenance,  he  fell  asleep  without  one  struggle,  or  sigh,  or 
groan.  I  cannot  therefore  doubt  but  the  S^jirit  of  God  bore  an 
inward  witness  with  his  spirit  that  he  was  a  child  of  God."-f- 

John  Wesley,  in  his  sermon  on  Love,  preached  at  Savannah 
in  1736,  again  adverts  to  his  father's  death,  and  says  : — "  When 
asked,  not  long  before  his  release,  'Are  the  consolations  of  God 
small  with  you  V  He  replied  aloud,  '  No,  no,  no  !'  and  then  call- 
ing all  that  were  near  him  by  their  names,  he  said,  'Think  of 
heaven,  talk  of  heaven  ;  all  the  time  is  lost  when  we  are  not  think- 
ing of  heaven.'  "  I 

Charles  Wesley's  description  of  his  father's  death  is  more 
lengthened,  and  is  contained  in  a  letter  addressed  to  his  brother 
Samuel,  and  which  was  first  published  by  Dr  Priestley  in  1791. 

*  Wesley  Family. 

t  "  This  letter  was  written  during  a  controversy  with  Seeker,  respecting  the  doc- 
trine of  the  witness  of  the  Spirit." — Wesley's  Works,  vol.  xii.  p.  93. 
J  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  475. 


AGE  73.]  DEATH  AND  CHAUACTEE.  445 

The  letter  was  written  two  days  after  the  funeral,  and  is  as  fol- 
lows : — 

"  Epvvorth,  April  30,  1735. 

"  Deae  Beother, — After  all  your  desire  of  seeing  my  father 
alive,  you  are  at  last  assured  you  must  see  his  face  no  more  till 
he  is  raised  in  incorruption.  Yon  have  reason  to  envy  us,  who 
could  attend  him  in  the  last  stage  of  his  illness.  The  few  words 
he  could  utter  I  saved,  and  hope  never  to  forget.  Some  of  them 
were,  '  Nothing  too  much  to  suffer  for  heaven.  The  weaker  I  am 
in  body,  the  stronger  and  more  sensible  support  T  feel  from  God. 
There  is  but  a  step  between  me  and  death.  To-morrow  I  will 
see  you  all  with  me  round  this  table,  that  we  may  once  more  drink 
of  the  cup  of  blessing  before  we  drink  of  it  new  in  the  kingdom 
of  God.  With  desire  have  I  desired  to  eat  this  passover  with  you 
before  I  die.' 

"  The  morning  he  was  to  communicate,  he  was  so  exceeding 
weak  and  full  of  pain,  that  he  could  not,  without  the  utmost  diffi- 
culty, receive  the  elements,  often  repeating,  '  Thou  shakest  me, 
thou  shakest  me  ;'  but,  immediately  after  receiving,  there  followed 
the  most  visible  alteration.  He  appeared  full  of  faith  and  peace, 
which  extended  even  to  his  body,  for  he  was  so  much  better  that 
we  almost  hoped  he  would  have  recovered.  *  The  fear  of  death 
he  had  entirely  conquered,  and  at  last  gave  up  his  latest  human 
desires  of  finishing  Job,  paying  his  debts,  and  seeing  you.  He 
often  laid  his  hand  upon  my  head  and  said,  '  Be  steady.  The 
Christian  faith  will  surely  revive  in  this  kingdom  ;  you  shall  see 
it,  though  I  shall  not.'*}*  To  my  sister  Emily,  he  said,  '  Do  not  be 
concerned  at  my  death,  God  will  then  begin  to  manifest  himself 
to  my  family/]:  On  my  asking  him  whether  he  did  not  find  him- 
self worse,  he  replied,  '  Oh  my  Charles,  I  feel  a  great  deal,  God 
chastens  me  with  strong  pain,  but  I  praise  Him  for  it,  I  thank 
Him  for  it,  I  love  Him  for  it.' 

"  On  the  25th  his  voice  failed  him,  and  nature  seemed  entirely 
spent,  when,  on  my  brother's  asking,  '  Whether  he  M'as  not  near 

*  From  this,  good  old  Henry  Moore  deduced  the  inference  that  he  now,  for  the 
first  time,  received  the  witness  of  the  Spirit ;  and  that,  until  now,  "  this  good 
man  had  laboured  in  the  fear  of  God  through  a  long  legal  night  of  nearly  seventy 
years."     Absurd  nonsense  ! 

t  Strange  words  these,  and  gloriously  fulfilled. 

+  Another  remarkable  utterance,  remarkably  fulfilled. 


446  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

heaven?'  lie  answered  distinctly,  and  with  the  most  of  hope  and 
triumph  that  could  be  expressed  in  sounds,  '  Yes,  I  am.'  He 
spoke  once  more,  just  after  my  brother  had  used  the  commendatory 
prayer  ;  his  last  words  were,  '  Now,  you  have  done  all !' 

"  This  was  about  half  an  hour  after  six,  from  which  time  till 
sunset  he  made  signs  of  offering  up  himself,  till  my  brother, 
having  again  used  the  prayer,  the  very  moment  it  was  finished, 
he  expired. 

"  His  passage  was  so  smooth  and  insensible  that,  notwithstand- 
ing the  stopping  of  his  pulse,  and  ceasing  of  all  sign  of  life  and 
motion,  we  continued  over  him  a  considerable  time  in  doubt 
whether  the  soul  was  departed  or  no.  My  mother  (who  for 
several  days  before  he  died,  hardly  ever  went  into  his  chamber 
but  she  was  carried  out  again  in  a  fit)  was  far  less  shocked  at  the 
news  than  we  expected,  and  told  us  that  now  she  was  heard,  in 
his  having  so  easy  a  death,  and  in  her  being  strengthened  so  to 
bear  it. 

"  My  brother  had  laid  aside  all  hopes  or  fears  (for  I  cannot  cer- 
tainly say  which)  of  succeeding ;  but,  by  yours,  we  guess  Mr  Ogle- 
thorpe has  quickened  him.  A  petition  might  easily  be  sent  if  now 
necessary.  A  neighbouring  clergyman  has  sent  word  that  'he 
has  the  living,'  which  would  be  bad  news,  but  that  another  as 
confidently  affirms  he  has  it.  How  many  more  may  be  sure  of  it 
we  cannot  say,  but  if  Providence  pleases  a  Wesley  will  have  it 
after  all,  though  in  the  gift  of  the  crown.  I  hope,  and  so  does  my 
brother,  that  you  will  have  their  wish,  and  that  he  may  fail  of  his. 

"  Though  you  have  lost  your  chief  reason  for  coming,  yet  there 
are  others  which  make  your  presence  more  necessary  than  ever. 
My  mother,  who  will  hardly  ever  leave  Epworth,  would  be  exceed- 
inoly  glad  to  see  you  as  soon  as  can  be.  She  does  not  administer, 
so  can  neither  sue  nor  be  sued.  We  have  computed  the  debts  as 
near  as  can  be,  and  find  they  amount  to  about  £100,  exclusive  of 
cousin  Eichardson's.  Mrs  Knight,  her  landlady,  seized  all  her 
quick  stock,  valued  at  above  £40  for  £15  my  father  owed  her 
on  Monday  last,  the  day  he  was  buried ;  and  my  brother  this 
afternoon  gives  a  note  for  the  money,  in  order  to  get  the  stock  at 
liberty  to  sell ;  for  security  of  which  he  has  the  stock  made  over 
to  him,  and  will  be  paid  as  it  can  be  sold.  My  father  was  buried 
very  frugally,  yet  decently,  in  the  churchyard  according  to  his  own 
desire.     It 's^  ill  be  highly  necessary  to  bring  all  accounts  of  what 


AGE  73.]  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER,  447 

lie  owed  you,  that  you  may  mark  all  the  goods  in  the  house  as 
principal  creditor,  and  thereby  secure  to  my  mother  time  and 
liberty  to  sell  them  to  the  best  advantage.  All  papers  and  letters 
of  importance  I  have  sealed  up  and  keep  till  you  come. 

"  If  you  take  London  in  your  way,  my  mother  desires  you  would 
remember  she  is  a  clergyman's  widow.  Let  the  society  give  her 
what  they  please — she  must  be  still  in  some  degree  burdensome  to 
you,  as  she  calls  it.  How  do  I  envy  you  that  glorious  burden, 
and  wish  I  could  share  it.  You  must  put  me  in  some  way  of 
getting  a  little  money,  that  I  may  do  something  in  this  shipwreck 
of  the  family,  for  somebody,  though  it  be  no  more  than  furnishing 
a  plank. 

"  My  mother  sends  her  love  and  blessing ;  we  all  send  our  love 
to  you,  and  to  my  sister  and  Phill.  I  should  be  ashamed  of  having 
so  much  business  in  my  letter  were  it  not  necessary.  I  would 
choose  to  write  and  think  of  nothing  but  my  father.  Before  we 
meet  I  hope  you  will  have  finished  his  elegy.  Pray  write  if  there 
be  time. — I  am,  your  most  affectionate  brother, 

"  Charles  Wesley."* 

Thus  lived  and  died  Samuel  Wesley.-f-  Near  the  east  end  of 
Epworth  Church,  there  is  a  plain  grit  tombstone,  supported 
by  brick- work,  on  which  is  cut  the  following  inscription,  said 
to  have  been  composed  by  Mrs  Wesley,  Passing  over  the 
absurd  manner  in  which  it  is  divided,  it  is  utterly  unworthy 
of  the  distinguished  man  vv^hose  memory  it  is  intended  to  per- 
petuate : — 

"  Here 
Lyeth  all  tliat  was 
Mortal  of  Samuel  Wesley, 
A.M.     He  was  rector  of  Ep- 
worth 39  years,  and  departed 
this  Life  25  of  April  1735, 
Aged  72. 

*  Original  Letters,  published  by  Priestley,  p.  55. 

t  The  following  appeared  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1735  : — "  Died,  April 
25,  at  Epworth,  in  Lincolnshire,  the  Rev.  Mr  Samuel  Wesley,  M.A.,  rector  of 
that  parish,  a  person  of  singular  parts,  piety,  and  learning  j  author  of  several 
poetical  and  controversial  pieces.  He  had  for  some  years  been  composing  a 
critical '  Dissertation  on  the  Book  of  Job,'  which  he  has  left  unfinished,  and  almost 
printed.  He  proved,  ever  since  his  minority,  a  moat  zealous  asserter  of  the  doc- 
trine and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England." 


418  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY,  [l735. 

As  he  liv'd  so  he  died, 

in  the  true  Catholic  Faith 

of  the  Holy  Trinity  in  Unity, 

And  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God 

incarnate  :  and  the  only 

Saviour  of  Mankind. 

Acts  iv.  12. 

'  Blessed  are  the  dead 

Which  die  in  the  Lord,  yea, 

saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may 

rest  from  their  labours  and 

Their  works  do  follow  them.' 

Eev.  xiv.  13."  * 

Our  task  is  ended.  ]\fany  and  jjleasant  have  been  the  hours 
spent  in  tracing  the  history  of  one  of  the  noblest  men  that  God 
ever  made.  It  is  superfluous  to  say  more  respecting  him  ;  and 
yet,  with  a  lingering  reluctance  to  quit  the  work,  we  cannot  deny 
ourselves  the  gratification  of  adding  a  few  more  words  concerning 
his  general  character. 

Samuel  Wesley,  jun.,  wrote  an  elegy  immediately  after  his 
father's  death,  which  his  brother  John  published  in  the  first 
volume  of  the  Arminian  Magazine.  The  following  are  ex- 
tracts : — 

"  With  opening  life  his  early  worth  began, 
The  boy  misleads  not,  but  foreshows  the  man. 
Directed  wrong,  though  first  he  miss'd  the  way, 
Train'd  to  mistake,  and  disciplined  to  stray ; 
Xot  long  : — for  reason  gilded  error's  night, 
And  doubts,  well-founded,  shot  a  dawn  of  light — 
Nor  prejudice  o'ersway'd  his  heart  and  head. 
Resolved  to  follow  truth  vt^here'er  she  led, 
The  radiant  track  audacious  to  pursue 
From  fame,  from  interest,  and  from  friends  he  flew. 
Those  shock'd  him  first  who  laugh  at  human  sway, 
Who  preach,  'Because  commanded,  disobey;' 
Alike  the  crown  and  mitre  who  forswore. 
And  scofF'd  profanely  at  the  martyr's  gore; 
Though  not  in  vain  the  sacred  current  flow'd. 
Which  gave  this  champion  to  the  Church  of  God. 

"  No  worldly  views  the  real  convert  call ; 
He  sought  God's  altar  when  it  seem'd  to  fall ; 
To  Oxford  hasted,  even  in  dangerous  days. 
When  royal  anger  struck  the  fated  place ; 
When  senseless  policy  was  pleased  to  view 
With  favour  all  religions  but  the  true. 


Wesley  Family. 


AGE  73.]  DEATH  AND  CHAEACTEE.  449 

"  Nor  yet  unmention'd  shall  in  silence  lie 
His  slighted  and  derided  poetry  ; 
Whate'er  his  strains,  still  glorious  was  his  end, 
Faith  to  assert,  and  virtue  to  defend. 

"  He  sung  how  God  the  Saviour  deign'd  to  expire, 
With  Vida's  piety  though  not  his  fire  ; 
Deduced  his  Maker's  praise  from  age  to  age, 
Through  the  long  annals  of  the  sacr6d  page ; 
And  not  inglorious  was  the  poet's  fate. 
Liked  and  rewarded  by  the  good  and  great ; 
For  gracious  smiles  not  pious  Anne  denied, 
And  beauteous  Mary  bless'd  him  when  she  died." 

The  i^oetry  of  the  Epworth  rector  has  unquestionably  been 
"  slighted  and  derided,"  and  it  must  be  honestly  confessed  that 
some  of  his  verses  are  exceedingly  careless  and  inharmonious ; 
but  this  was  not  so  much  the  fault  of  the  man's  poetic  genius,  as 
of  his  too  great  haste  in  writing  them.  His  poems  were  written 
amid  the  pressure  of  parochial  duties ;  and,  we  incline  to  think, 
sometimes  when  he  was  hard  pushed  for  want  of  food  and  clothes 
for  himself  and  family.  Even  his  most  hasty  and  unfinished  pieces 
flash  with  the  purest  poetic  fire,  and  are  not  without  signs  that  the 
man  who  wrote  them  was  a  bard  of  the  highest  order.  It  was 
from  him  that  his  three  sons,  Samuel,  John,  and  Charles,  and  his 
two  daughters,  Emilia  and  Mehetabel,  inherited  that  remarkable 
poetic  passion,  M'hich  gave  birth  to  some  of  the  finest  verse  in  the 
English  language.  Copious  extracts  from  his  poetry  have  been 
already  given ;  but  as  yet  no  mention  has  been  made  of  his 
"Eupolis's  Hymn  to  the  Creator."*  Dr  Adam  Clarke  j^rononnces 
this  poem  to  be  "  the  finest  on  the  subject  in  the  English  language. 
It  possesses  what  Racine  calls  the  genie  createur,  the  genuine  spirit 
of  poetry.  It  is  not  saying  too  much  to  assert,  the  man  who  was 
the  author  of  what  is  called  '  Eupolis's  Hymn  to  the  Creator,'  had 
he  taken  time,  care,  and  pains,  and  had  not  been  continually  har- 
assed with  the  res  augusta  domi,  would  have  adorned  the  highest 
walks  of  poetry."  f 

This  remarkable  poem  was  first  published  by  John  Wesley,  in 
the  Arminian  Magazine  for  1778,  and  the  following  are  extracts 
from  it : — 

*  Some  writers  have  been  disposed  to  think  that  this  poem  was  at  least,  in 
part,  the  production  of  Mehetabel  Wesley,  but  John  Wesley  always  declared  that 
it  was  written  by  his  father. — Moore's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  48. 

t  Wesley  Family. 

2f 


450  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

"  Author  of  Being  !  Source  of  Light ! 
With  unfadiug  beauties  bright, 
Fulness,  goodness,  rolling  round, 
Thy  own  fair  orb,  without  a  bound  ; 
Whether  Thee,  thy  suppliants  call. 
Truth,  or  Good,  or  One,  or  All, 
Ei,  or  Jao ;  Thee  we  hail,' 
Essence  that  can  never  fail, 

"Thee,  when  morning  greets  the  skies, 
With  rosy  cheeks  and  humid  eyes  ; 
Thee,  when  sweet  declining  day, 
Sinks  in  purple  waves  away ; 
Thee  will  I  sing,  0  parent  Jove  ! 
And  teach  the  world  to  praise  and  love. 

"  Yonder  azure  vault  on  high, 
Yonder  blue,  low,  liquid  sky. 
Earth,  on  its  firm  basis  placed, 
And  with  circling  waves  embraced. 
All-creating  power  confess, 
All  their  mighty  Maker  bless. 

"  The  feather'd  souls  that  swim  the  air, 
And  bathe  in  liquid  ether  there. 
The  lark,  precentor  of  their  choir. 
Leading  them  higher  still  and  higher. 
Listen  and  learn  ;  the  angelic  notes 
Repeating  in  their  warbling  throats ; 
And  ere  to  soft  repose  they  go. 
Teach  them  to  their  lords  below  ; 
On  the  green  turf,  their  mossy  nest, 
The  evening  anthem  swells  their  breast. 

*'  Source  of  Light !  Thou  bid'st  the  sun. 
On  his  burning  axles  run ; 
The  stars  like  dust  around  him  fly, 
And  strew  the  area  of  the  sky. 

"  0  ye  nurses  of  soft  dreams,  • 

Reedy  brooks,  and  winding  streams, 
Or  murm'ring  o'er  the  pebbles  sheen, 
Or  sliding  through  the  meadows  green. 
Or  whei-e  through  matted  sedge  you  creep, 
Travelling  to  your  Parent  deep, 
Sound  His  praise  by  whom  you  rose, 
That  Sea,  which  neither  ebbs  nor  flows. 

"  No  evil  can  from  Thee  proceed ; 
'Tis  only  sufFer'd,  not  decreed — 
Darkness  is  not  from  the  sun. 
Nor  mount  the  shades  till  he  is  gone. 


AGE  73.]  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER.  451 

"  0  Father,  King  !  whose  Heavenly  face 
Shines  serene  on  all  Thy  race  ; 
We  Thy  magnificence  adore, 
And  Thy  well-known  aid  implore  : 
Nor  vainly  for  Thy  help  we  call ; 
Nor  can  we  want,  for  Thou  art  All !  " 

Mr  Wesley  was  a  man  of  immense  reading,  and  was  possessed 
of  great  vivacity  and  wit.  Sometimes  he  has  been  represented  as 
of  a  harsh  and  stern  character ;  but  nothing  can  be  farther  from 
the  truth  than  this — "  His  children,"  says  Miss  Wesley,  his  grand- 
daughter, "idolised  his  memory."  They  would  scarce  have  done 
that  if  he  had  been  ungenial  and  gruff.  It  is  true,  he  kept  his 
children  in  the  strictest  order ;  but  he  also  evinced  the  greatest 
tenderness,  and  thus  secured  both  the  respect  and  love  of  his 
numerous  family.  To  his  judicious  method  of  instructing  and 
managing  his  offspring,  the  Methodists  owe  an  incalculable,  debt 
of  gratitude ;  and,  on  this  account,  his  name  among  them  ought  to 
be  held  in  lasting  remembrance.  He  was  full  of  anecdote,  and  of 
witty  and  wise  sayings,  which  gave  to  his  private  conversations 
great  interest.  The  withering  wit  of  his  son  Samuel,  the  quiet 
sarcasm  of  his  son  John,  the  playful  raillery  of  his  daughter 
Emilia,  and  the  keen  satire  of  Mehetabel,  were  all  inherited  from 
himself.  In  early  life  he  was  connected  with  some  of  the  greatest 
wits  then  flourishing,  and  to  the  day  of  his  death  highly  relished 
pleasantry,  when  it  was  pure  and  good-tempered. 

One  instance,  given  by  Dr  Adam  Clarke,  is  as  follows : — At 
Temple  Belwood,  near  Eijwotth,  lived  a  miserly  man,  who,  con- 
trary to  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life,  once  mustered  courage  enough 
to  invite  a  few  friends  to  dinner.  Mr  Wesley  was  present,  and 
displayed  his  wit,  and  his  great  facility  in  composition,  by  repeat- 
ing, in^promptu,  at  the  close  of  such  an  unusual  festival : — 

"  Thanks  for  this  feast !  for  'tis  no  less 
Than  eating  manna  in  the  wilderness. 
Here  some  have  starved,  where  we  have  found  relief. 
And  seen  the  wonders  of  a  chine  of  beef. 
Here  chimneys  smoke,  which  never  smoked  before. 
And  we  have  dined,  where  we  shall  dine  no  more." 

Which  last  line  was  immediately  confirmed  by  the  mean-spirited 
host,  who  said,  "  No,  gentlemen ;  it  is  too  expensive." 

Dr  Clarke  relates  another  story,  which  was  somewhat  severely 
criticised  in  the  Methodist  Magazine  for  1824 ;  was  corrected  by 


452  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

Mr  Watson  in  his  Life  of  Wesley,  in  1831  ;  and  has  been  sharply 
handled  by  Mr  Kirk,  in  his  graphic  biography  of  1864.  Because 
the  story  has  excited  so  much  attention,  I  feel  bound  to  give  it. 
Dr  Clarke  says  he  has  related  the  story,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in 
the  very  words  used  by  John  Wesley  to  himself,  when  they  last 
met  in  Bristol. 

Samuel  Wesley  had  a  clerk,  who  was  well-meaning  and  honest, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  weak  and  vain.  Of  this,  an  instance  is  given 
somewhat  ludicrous.  It  is  said,  that  on  the  return  of  King 
William  from  one  of  his  martial  expeditions,  this  self-conceited 
official  rose  up,  in  the  midst  of  divine  service,  in  Epworth  church, 
and,  with  the  nasal  twang  usual  among  such  functionaries,  and  to 
the  unfortunate  amusement  of  the  congregation,  said — "Let  us 
sing,  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  God,  a  hymn  of  my  own  com- 
posing :  — 

"  King  William  is  come  home,  come  home, 
King  William  home  is  come  ; 
Therefore  let  vis  together  sing, 
The  hymn  that  is  called  'Te  D'um.'  " 

This  poetical  clerk  believed  the  rector,  Mr  Wesley,  to  be  the 
greatest  man  in  Epworth  parish ;  and  that,  as  he  stood  next  to 
him  in  church  services,  he  was  also  next  in  worth  and  dignity. 
Among  the  man's  other  emoluments  was  the  privilege  of  wearing 
the  rector's  cast-ofi'  clothes  and  wigs,  for  the  latter  of  which  his 
head  was  far  too  small.  Mr  Wesley,  finding  him  particularly  vain 
of  one  of  these  wigs,  formed  the  design  to  mortify  him  in  the 
presence  of  the  congregation.  One  morning,  before  church  time, 
Mr  Wesley  said,  "John,  I  shall  preach  on  a  particular  subject  to- 
day ;  and  shall  choose  my  own  psalm,  of  which  I  shall  give  out 
the  first  line,  and  you  shall  proceed  as  usual."  Accordingly  the 
service  went  forward  as  it  was  wont  to  do,  till  the  time  came  for 
singing,  when  Mr  Wesley  gave  out  the  following  line — 

"  Like  to  an  owl  in  ivy  bush" — 

This  was  sung,  and  then  John,  peeping  out  of  his  large  canonical 
wig,  proceeded  with  the  next  line,  and,  in  the  orthodox  twang, 
drawled  out — 

"  That  rueful  thing  am  I !  " 

The  congregation,  struck  with  John's  appearance,  saw  the  ludicrous- 
ness  of  the  coincidence,  and,  to  John's  great  mortification,  burst 
into  a  fit  of  lauohter. 


AGE  73.]  DEATH  AND  CHAEACTEE,  453 

Such  is  Dr  CLarke's  version  of  the  story.  The  reviewer  in  the 
magazine  objects  to  it — first,  Because  it  was  too  trivial  to  merit  a 
place  in  such  a  work;  second,  Because  it  reflects  upon  the  good-nature 
of  Mr  Wesley,  and  upon  his  attention  to  that  uniform  dignity  and 
seriousness  of  demeanour  which  are  justly  expected  from  a  Chris- 
tian minister  ;  and  third,  Because,  in  one  important  particular,  the 
story  was  untrue,  for  Mr  Wesley  took  no  part  in  the  business  what- 
ever ;  but  the  whole  was  the  culpable  trick  of  the  whimsical  clerk, 
who  chose  such  an  opportunity  of  rendering  himself  ridiculous, 
and  of  making  his  neighbours  laugh. 

Mr  Watson  admits  that  the  anecdote  is  laughable  enough,  but 
says,  it  "  implicates  Mr  Wesley  in  an  irreverent  act  in  the  house 
of  God,  of  which  he  was  not  capable ;''  and  moreover,  "  Mr  Wes- 
ley had  no  hand  in  selecting  the  psalm,  which  appears  to  have  been 
purely  accidental." 

Mr  Kirk  takes  the  same  view,  and  further,  doubts  whether  such 
lines  were  ever  read  at  all ;  or,  if  they  were,  he  suggests  that  they 
must  have  been  part  of  another  hymn  of  the  clerk's  "  own  com- 
posing.'" Perhaps  so  ;  Mr  Kirk  says  neither  he  nor  his  friends 
have  been  able  to  find  anything  like  the  lines  in  either  Sternhold 
and  Hopkins,  or  in  any  other  of  the  "old  versions"  of  the  Psalms, 
This  is  quite  correct,  and  we  believe  that  the  exact  lines  above  re- 
cited cannot  be  found  in  any  "  version  ;"  but  the  following  occur 
in  an  edition  of  SternhokVs,  published  in  1729,  and  now  before 
us  : — 

"  And  as  an  owl  in  desert  is, 
Lo,  I  am  such  an  one  ; 
I  watch,  and  as  a  sparrow  on 
The  house-top  am  alone." 

The  origin  of  the  doubts  respecting  the  authenticity  of  the  story 
may  be  found  in  the  following  letter,  published  in  the  Wesleyan 
Times  newspaper  of  March  7, 1864.  It  was  written  to  Dr  Clarke 
by  Miss  Sarah  Wesley,  at  the  time  he  published  his  "  Wesley 
Family  :  " — 

"  May  28,  1822. 

"  My  deae  Doctor, — I  omitted  to  mention  one  material  cir- 
cumstance in  my  last,  relative  to  the  clerk  and  his  psalm,  as  I  well 
remember  hearing  my  good  father,  '  (the  Eev.  Charles  Wesley,)' 
relate  it  to  us. 

"  It  was  not  by  my  grandfather's  appointment  he  gave  it  out, 


454  .         THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

but  from  the  clerk's  own  sagacity,  little  suspecting  the  old  Caxon 
resembled  him  to  an  owl. 

"  Indeed,  a  pious  pastor  would  not  have  excited  a  laugh  in  a 
sacred  place,  or  punished  a  silly  blockhead  at  the  expense  of  in- 
terrupting the  devotion  of  a  whole  congregation ;  but  as  anecdotes 
never  lose  by  tradition,  you  have  heard  it  was  design,  not  accident. 
Dean  Swift  might  have  done  so,  but  not  Samuel  Wesley,  senior, 
who  had  ever  inculcated  the  duty,  even  in  psalmody,  of  worship- 
ping the  Lord  with  reverence. 

"  My  dear  father  told  me  the  circumstance  when  pointing  out  to 
us  the  follies  to  which  vanity  exposed  a  man,  and  the  eflects  they 
produced.  But  my  worthy  grandfather  could  not,  consistent  with 
his  respect  to  the  sacred  place,  have  directed  a  silly  man  to  divert 
his  audience.  Accidentally  it  was  indeed  ludicrous,  and  might 
have  cured  him  of  a  little  innocent  vanity,  for  all  the  people  saw 
the  resemblance. 

"  I  never  recollected,  till  my  last  letter  went,  that  I  had  left  out 
this  statement,  and  hope  it  will  come  time  enough  for  the  fact  to 
be  mentioned  as  it  was  ;  for,  otherwise,  there  is  a  shade  cast  on  my 
good  old  ancestor  which  no  wit  can  chase  away." 

In  another  letter  to  Dr  Clarke,  dated  "Jan.  24, 1824,"  the  same 
writer  says  : — 

"  Your  authority  for  John,  the  clerk,  is  my  dear  uncle ;  ours,  my 
father  and  Aunt  Hall,  who,  had  they  lived,  I  doubt  not,  would  have 
stood  to  their  account  of.  the  circumstance,  and  contested  it  with 
their  good  brother  ;  who,  when  he  related  it  to  you,  was  consider- 
ably advanced  in  years,  and  far  more  likely  to  misplace  circum- 
stances, with  such  a  weight  of  business  and  years,  than  my  father 
or  aunt,  who  had  made  us  acquainted  with  the  anecdote  in  the 
vi'Tour  of  their  memory.  If  it  were  as  you  state,  I  am  persuaded  had 
my  dear  uncle  been  younger,  he  never  would  have  related  (without 
disapprobation,  even  of  his  own  parent)  such  conduct  in  a  chm-ch."* 

Dr  Clarke  still  adhered  to  the  correctness  of  his  version  of  the 
story,  and  defended  the  action  on  the  ground  that  "it  was  the  only 
way  in  which  a  weak,  well-meaning,  but  vain  man,  could  be  cured 
of  a  vanity  discreditable  to  himself  and  troublesome  to  others  ;" 
and  that  "  the  means  employed  were  as  innocent,  as  they  were 
appropriate  and  efficient."     He  also  justifies  his  publication  of  the 

*  Wesleyan  Times  for  March  28,  1864. 


AGE  73.]  DEATH  AND  CHARACTEK.  455 

anecdote,  because  he  thought  the  thing  was  "  characteristic  of  the 
man ;"  that  it  is  "from  facts  of  this  nature  that  the  biographer  forms 
a  proper  estimate  of  the  character  he  describes;"  and  that,  without 
"such  incidents,"  he  must  "plod  on  in  dry  detail  of  facts,"  in  a 
manner  "little  pleasing  to  himself,"  and  almost  " unsupportable  to 
his  readers." 

This  is  all  that  the  writer  knows  respecting  this  paltry  business, 
which  has  become  far  more  important  than  it  deserves  to  be.  It 
has  already  occupied  too  much  of  the  writer's  space,  and  hence, 
without  any  comment  of  his  own,  he  leaves  the  ingenious  reader 
to  form  his  own  opinion. 

Matthew  Wesley,  in  the  letter  already  quoted  in  the  previous 
chapter,  insinuates  that  his  brother  had  indulged  in  "ungovern- 
able ap^Detites."  This  was  an  unfounded  and  cruel  accusation. 
In  all  respects,  Samuel  Wesley  was  a  most  temperate  and  frugal 
man,  except,  perhaps,  in  his  indulgence  of  snuff  and  tobacco. 

Living  in  the  midst  of  Lincolnshire  fens,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  he  used  the  pipe ;  for  the  belief  was  common  that  it  helped 
to  prevent  disease.  It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that  the  weed 
was  an  early  friend;  for,  in  the  Athenian  Oracle,  while  the 
editors  allow  that  tobacco  when  immoderately  used  is  insalubri- 
ous, they  also,  as  is  usual  with  smokers,  contend  that,  when 
properly  employed,  it  helps  to  cure  headaches,  toothaches,  asthmas, 
and  old  coughs ;  and  though  it  might  induce  drinking,  yet  so  did 
the  eating  of  bread  and  cheese  or  Westphalia  ham.  Snuff,  how- 
ever, seems  to  have  been  Mr  W^esley's  favourite  indulgence ;  and 
on  this  account  he  was,  perhaps,  undutifully  attacked  by  his  son, 
Samuel,  as  early  as  the  year  1714,  in  one  of  the  keenest  satires  that 
the  young  poet  ever  penned.     Speaking  of  the  box,  he  says  : — 

"  The  snuff-box  first  provokes  our  just  disdain. 
That  rival  of  the  fan  and  of  the  cane. 
Your  modern  beaux  to  richest  shrines  intrust 
Their  worthless  stores  of  fashionable  dust." 

And  again  of  snuff  itself  : — 

"  Strange  is  the  power  of  snuff,  whose  pungent  grains 
Can  make  fops  speak,  and  furnish  beaux  with  brains ; 
Nor  care  of  cleanliness,  nor  love  of  dress, 
Can  save  their  clothes  from  brick-dust  nastiness. 
Some  think  the  part  too  small  of  modish  sand 
Which  at  a  niggard  pinch  they  can  command ; 
Nor  can  their  fingers  for  that  task  suffice, 
Their  nose  too  greedy,  not  their  hands  too  nice ; 


456  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

To  such  a  height  with  these  is  fashion  grown, 
They  feed  their  very  nostrils  with  a  spoon. 
One,  and  but  one  degree  is  wanting  yet, 
To  make  our  senseless  luxury  complete ; 
Some  choice  regale,  useless  as  snuff,  and  dear. 
To  feed  the  mazy  windings  of  the  ear." 

This  withering  satire  was  written  by  young  Wesley  at  the 
request  of  his  aunt,  Ann  Annesley,  and  for  it  he  makes  a  graceful 
and  not  unneeded  apology  to  his  father.  Mr  Kirk  thinks  that, 
because  of  his  embarrassments,  Samuel  Wesley  ought  to  have 
dispensed  with  the  luxuries  of  the  pipe  and  of  suuff ;  but  perhaps 
if  Mr  Kirk  himself  had  ever  used  them,  his  opinion  would  have 
been  somewhat  modified.  John  Wesley  says  the  use  of  tobacco 
is  "  an  uncleanly  and  unwholesome  self-indulgence ; "  and  that 
the  use  of  snuff  is  "  a  silly,  nasty,  dirty  custom."  *  He  enacted 
a  law,  making  it  imperative  that  on  no  account  should  any  of  his 
preachers  take  snuff,  and  that  they  should  strongly  dissuade  the 
Methodists  from  taking  it,  and  should  answer  all  their  pretences 
for  doing  so,  and  especially  the  pretence  that  it  cured  the  colic.f 
He  directed  that,  on  receiving  "  new  helpers "  at  Conference, 
solemn  fasting  and  prayer  should  be  used,  and  this  question 
among  others  be  proposed  to  the  presented  candidates,  "  Do  you 
take  no  snuft',  tobacco,  drams  ? "  |  We  have  not  a  syllable  to  say 
against  all  this.  We  believe  that,  for  medical  purposes,  smoking 
and  snuffing  have  no  good  in  them ;  and,  moreover,  we  share  in 
the  disgust  felt  by  thousands  of  intelligent  and  good  people  at 
seeing  so  many  empty-headed  boys  of  the  present  generation 
attempting  to  deceive  the  public,  and  to  make  them  believe  that 
they  are  men,  because  they  happen  to  have  the  audacity  to  culti- 
vate a  jagged  moustache,  and  to  smoke  a  pipe ;  yet,  consider- 
ing the  sequestered  life  which  Mr  Wesley  lived,  and  considering 
the  almost  unceasing  troubles  through  which  he  had  to  pass,  we 
can  easily  excuse  his  seeking,  at  so  insignificant  an  expense,  the 
sort  of  soothing  stupor  or  cerebral  solace,  which,  as  old  smokers 
and  old  snuffers  tell  us,  is  derivable  from  the  much  abused,  frag- 
rant weed,  tobacco. 

For  forty-seven  years  Mr  Wesley  was  a  diligent,  faithful  minis- 
ter of  Christ. 

"  As  a  pastor,"  says  Dr  Whitehead,  "  he  was  indefatigable  in 
the  duties  of  his  office :  a  constant  preacher,  feeding  the  flock 

*  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  xii.  pp.  231,  232.     t  Ibid.,  vol.  viii.  p.  296.    J  Ibid.,  p.  312. 


AGE  73.]  DEATH  AND  CHAEACTEE,  457 

with  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  gospel ;  and  diligent  in  visiting  the 
sick,  and  administering  such  advice  as  their  situations  required. 
This  integrity  was  conspicuous,  and  his  conduct  uniform.  Few 
men  have  been  so  diligent  in  the  pastoral  office  as  he  was ;  none 
perhaps  more  so.  Though  his  income  was  small,  and  his  family 
large,  he  had  always  something  to  give  to  those  in  distress.  In 
conversation  he  was  grave,  yet  instructive,  lively,  and  full  of 
anecdote.  His  last  moments  were  as  conspicuous  for  resignation 
and.  Christian  fortitude,  as  his  life  had  been  for  zeal  and  dili- 
gence." * 

"  Mr  Wesley,"  says  the  Eev.  John  Hampson,  "  was  a  volumin- 
ous writer.  He  was  the  author  of  a  Latin  Comment  on  Job ;  a 
work  of  much  erudition,  and  perhaps  for  that  reason  but  little 
read.  He  also  wrote  the  History  of  the  Bible,  and  the  Life  of 
Christ  in  verse,  with  several  smaller  pieces.  His  larger  poems 
were  rather  injurious  than  advantageous  to  his  reputation ;  and, 
instead  of  increasing  his  estimation  with  the  public,  exposed  him 
to  the  derision  of  the  wits,  and  the  censure  of  the  critics.f  But 
Mr  Wesley's  talents  as  a  writer  are  the  least  of  his  praise.  He 
was  not  merely  a  man  of  learning  and  ability.  His  piety  and 
integrity  were  striking  and  exemplary.  He  was  given  to  hospi- 
tality ;  and  in  every  respect  a  most  excellent  parish  priest.  The 
last  moments  of  this  valuable  man  were  crowned  with  most  strik- 
ing fortitude,  magnanimity,  and  Christian  resignation.  It  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say,  that  a  better  man,  or  a  more  vigilant  and 
faithful  pastor,  he  did  not  leave  behind  him.  He  united  the  zeal 
and  courage  of  a  martyr,  with  the  simplicity  and  evangelical  spirit 
of  an  apostle ;  and  though  he  had  no  great  cause  to  boast  the 
munificence,  he  possessed  the  esteem  of  some  of  the  first  charac- 
ters in  the  nation."  | 

"  Samuel  Wesley,"  says  Dr  Clarke,  "  was  of  a  short  stature  ;  of 
a  spare,  but  athletic  make ;  and  nearly  resembled  in  person  his  son 
John.  It  is  likely  that  the  picture  prefixed  to  his  '  Dissertations  on 
the  Book  of  Job'  was  a  correct  resemblance  of  him.  § 

*  Whitehead's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  pp.  21  and  32. 

t  This  is  true  only  in  part.  Some  of  the  wits  and  critics,  as  Garth,  ridiculed 
Wesley  ;  but  others  very  highly  extolled  him. 

+  Hampson's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i. 

§  We  doubt  the  correctness  of  the  statement  that  Wesley  "was  of  a  short  sta- 
ture." The  likeness  referred  to,  of  which  the  portrait  in  this  volume  is  a  faith- 
ful copy,  does  not  convey  this  idea. 


458  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SAMUEL  WESLEY.  [l735. 

"  He  was  earnest,  conscientious,  and  indefatigable  in  his  search 
after  truth.  He  thought  deeply  on  every  subject  which  was  either 
to  form  an  article  in  his  creed,  or  a  principle  for  his  conduct.  His 
orthodoxy  was  pure  and  solid;  his  religious  conduct  strictly  correct; 
his  piety  towards  God  ardent ;  his  loyalty  to  his  king  unsullied  ; 
and  his  love  to  his  fellow-creatures  strong  and  unconfined.  Though 
of  High  Church  principles  and  High  Church  politics,*  yet  he  could 
separate  the  Tnan  from  the  opinions  he  held,  and  when  he  found 
him  in  distress,  knew  him  only  as  a  friend  and  brother.  He  was 
a  rigid  disciplinarian,  both  in  his  church  and  his  family.  He  knew 
all  his  parishioners.  He  visited  them  from  house  to  house ;  he 
sifted  their  creed,  and  permitted  none  to  be  corrupt  in  their  opinions 
or  in  their  practices,  without  instruction  or  reproof.  In  this  man- 
ner he  went  through  his  parish,  which  was  near  three  miles  long, 
three  times  ;  and  he  was  visiting  it  the  fourth  time  round  when  he 
fell  into  his  last  sickness."  -f- 

Nothing  more  is  needed.  In  the  foregoing  testimonies  the 
writer  heartily  concurs.  Mr  Wesley's  behaviour,  as  a  parish  clergy- 
man, was  in  all  respects  exemplary  excepting  one  ;  we  mean  his 
enforcement  of  canonical  laws  concerning  penance,  the  neglect  of 
which,  we  are  bound  to  say,  would  have  been  more  virtuous  than 
the  observance. 

Remarks  have  sometimes  been  made  to  the  effect  that  Mr  Wes- 
ley's labours  were  honoured  with  but  small  success  ;  and,  in  sup- 
port of  this,  the  testimony  of  his  son  John  is  quoted,  but  quoted 
only  in  part.  The  entire  entry  in  his  journal  is  as  follows  : — 
"  17-i2.  Sunday,  June  13. — I  preached  in  Epworth  churchyard 
to  a  vast  multitude,  gathered  together  from  all  parts.  I  continued 
among  them  for  near  three  hours,  and  yet  we  scarce  knew  how  to 
part.    Oh,  let  none  think  his  labour  of  love  is  lost  because  the  fruit 

*  Once  more  we  protest  against  this.  What  were  High  Church  principles  and 
politics?  Bishop  Burnet,  who  flourished  at  the  time  when  the  names  of  High 
Church  and  Low  Church  were  first  introduced,  shall  answer.  He  writes,  {His- 
tory of  Own  Times,  vol.  ii.  p.  347  :) — "  All  that  treated  the  Dissenters  with  tem- 
per and  moderation,  and  were  for  residing  constantly  at  their  cures,  and  for 
labouring  diligently  in  them ;  that  expressed  a  zeal  against  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
and  for  the  Revolution ;  that  wished  well  to  the  present  war,  and  to  the  alliance 
against  France,  were  called  Low  Churchmen."  If  such  was  a  Low  Churchman, 
of  course,  a  High  Churchman  was  just  the  opposite.  Who,  in  the  face  of  this, 
will  pretend  to  say  that  Samuel  Wesley  was  "of  High  Church  principles,  and 
High  Church  politics  ? " 

+  Clarke's  Wesley  Family. 


AGE  73.]  DEATH  AND  CHAEACTEK.  450 

does  not  immediately  appear  !  Near  forty  years  did  my  father 
labour  here,  but  he  saw  little  fruit  of  all  his  labour.  I  took  some 
pains  among  this  people  too,  and  my  strength  also  seemed  spent 
in  vain  ;  but  now  the  fruit  appeared.  There  were  scarce  any  in 
the  town  on  whom  either  my  father  or  I  had  taken  any  pains  for- 
merly, but  the  seed,  sown  so  long  since,  now  sprung  up,  bringing 
forth  repentance  and  remission  of  sins."  * 

If  this  testimony  of  John  Wesley  means  what  it  says,  it  means 
that  the  labours  of  his  father  at  Epworth,  so  far  from  being  barren, 
were  crowned  with  great  results ;  only  the  results  were  more  visible 
after  his  death  than  they  were  before. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Mr  Wesley  outlived  the  brutal  hos- 
tility with  which  he  was  met  during  the  first  years  of  his  residence 
at  Epworth,  and  that  his  dozen  communicants  had  increased  to 
above  a  hundred.  But  besides  all  this,  we  have  another  testimony 
by  his  son  John,  contained  in  a  letter  written  to  the  venerable 
father  a  few  months  only  before  his  death.  He  says — "  For  many 
years  you  have  diligently  fed  the  flock  committed  to  your  care  with 
the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word.  Many  of  them  the  Great  Shepherd 
has,  by  your  hand,  delivered  from  the  hand  of  the  Destroyer,  some 
of  whom  have  already  entered  into  peace,  and  some  remain  unto 
this  day.  For  myself,  I  doubt  not  but  when  your  warfare  is 
accomplished  you  shall  come  to  your  grave,  not  with  sorrow,  but 
as  a  ripe  shock  of  corn,  full  of  years  and  victories."  f 

Such  a  declaration  sufficiently  refutes  the  vague,  floating  idea 
respecting  Samuel  Wesley's  want  of  ministerial  success  ;  but  had 
such  testimony  not  existed,  and  had  the  idea  mentioned  been 
strictly  true,  it  would  have  been  enough  of  honour,  for  even  so 
good  a  man  as  the  Epworth  rector,  to  be  the  author  of  some  of  the 
best  books  in  the  English  language,  and  to  be  the  father  of  the 
greatest  evangelist  of  modern  times,  and  of  the  best  sacred  bard 
that  has  flourished  since  the  days  when  the  poetic  lyre  was  made 
to  vibrate  music  so  sweetly  celestial,  under  the  wondrous  inspired 
touch  of  David  the  son  of  Jesse. 

*  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  i.,  p  356. 

t  Original  Letters,  published  by  Priestley,  p.  40. 


APPENDIX. 


A,  page  83. 
TITLES  OF  THE  POEMS   IN  MR  WESLEY'S  "MAGGOTS." 

The  Titles,  in  brief,  are  as  follows  : — 

1.  A  Maggot. 

2.  Two  Soldiers  Killing  one  another  for  a  Groat, 

3.  A  Tame  Snake  in  a  Box  of  Bran. 

4.  The  Grunting  of  a  Hog. 

5.  To  my  Gingerbread  Mistress. 

6.  The  Bear-faced  Lady. 

7.  A  Pair  of  Breeches. 

8.  A  Tobacco  Pipe. 

9.  A  Cow's  Tail. 

10.  The  Liar. 

11.  A  Hat  broke  at  Cudgels. 

12.  A  Covetous  Old  Fellow. 

13.  A  Supper  of  a Duck. 

14.  To  the  Laud  of  a  Shock  Bitch. 

15.  Elegy  on  the  Death  of  Poor  Spot. 

16.  A  Box  like  an  Egg. 

17.  The  Beggar  and  Poet. 

18.  Plures  aluit  Aristoteles  quam  Alexander. 

19.  A  King  turned  Thresher. 

20.  A  Discourteous  Damsel. 

21.  A  Cheese. 

22.  A  Journey. 

23.  The  Leather  Bottle. 

24.  Out  of  Lucian's  true  History. 


462  APPENDIX. 

Then  follow  the  Dialogues,  viz. : — 

1.  Between  a  Thatcher  and  a  Gardener. 

2.  Between  a  Herring  and  a  Whale. 

3.  Between  a  Utensil  and  a  Frying-pan. 

After  these  the  following,  viz. : — 

1.  Against  a  Kiss. 

2.  On  a  Certain  Nose. 

3.  In  Praise  of  Horns. 

4.  Advice  to  Monsieur  Ragoo. 

5.  A  Pretended  Scholar. 

G.  Three  Skips  of  a  Louse. 


B,  page  93. 


LIST  OF  PAMPHLETS  PUBLISHED  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE 
REVOLUTION  IN  1688. 

1.  Reflections  upon  the  late  Great  Revolution.  Written  by  a  Lay- 
Hand  in  the  country  for  the  satisfaction  of  some  neighbours.  Licensed 
April  9,  1689.     London  :  Printed  for  R.  Chiswell,  1689.    4to.    68  pp. 

2.  The  History  of  the  Desertion ;  or,  Account  of  all  the  Public 
Afi"airs  in  England,  from  September  1688  to  the  12th  of  February 
1689.  By  a  person  of  Quality.  Licensed  April  10,  1689.  Printed  for 
R.  Chiswell.     London :  1689.     4to.     Pp.162. 

3.  The  Case  of  Allegiance,  in  our  present  circumstances,  considered. 
In  a  Letter  from  a  Minister  in  the  City  to  a  Minister  in  the  Country. 
Licensed  March  21,  1689.  London:  Printed  for  R.  Chiswell,  1689. 
4to.     Pp.  34. 

4.  A  Justification  of  the  Whole  Proceedings  of  their  Majesties  King 
William  and  Queen  IMary ;  of  their  Royal  Highnesses  Prince  George 
and  Princess  Ann ;  of  the  Convocation,  Army,  Ministers  of  State,  and 
others,  in  this  Great  Revolution.  By  Authority.  Printed  for  Randal 
Taylor,  1689.     4to.     Pp.  37. 

5.  Remarks  upon  a  Paper,  entitled,  An  Inquiry  into  the  Measures 
of  Submission  to  the  Supreme  Authority.  London  :  1689.    4to.  Pp.48. 

6.  A  Seasonable  Discourse,  wherein  is  examined  What  is  Lawful 
during  the  confusions  and  revolutions  of  Government,  especially  in  the 


APPENDIX.  463 

case  of  a  King  deserting  his  Kingdom,  &c.     Printed  by  Ed.  Janeway, 
1689.     4to.     Pp.72. 

7.  A  Modest  Examination  of  the  New  Oath  of  Allegiance.  By  a 
Divine  of  the  Church  of  England.  London  :  Printed  for  R.  Taylor, 
1689.     4to.     Pp.  8. 

8.  The  Case  of  the  People  of  England  in  their  present  circumstances 
considered,  showing  how  far  they  are  or  are  not  obliged  by  the  Oath 
of  Allegiance.     London:  Printed  for  R.  Taylor,  1689.     4to.     Pp.  20. 

9.  The  Sovereign  Right  and  Power  of  the  People  over  Tyrants  clearly 
stated  and  plainly  proved,  with  some  Reflections  on  the  late  posture  of 
affairs.  By  a  True  Protestant  Englishman,  and  well-wisher  to  Posterity. 
London:  1689.     4to.     Pp.  27. 

10.  An  Examination  of  the  Scruples  of  those  who  refuse  to  take  the 
Oath  of  Allegiance.  By  a  Divine  of  the  Church  of  England.  London  : 
Printed  for  R.  Chiswell,  1689.     Pp.  34. 

11.  A  friendly  Conference  concerning  the  New  Oath  of  Allegiance, 
wherein  the  Objections  against  taking  the  Oaths  are  impartially  ex- 
amined, and  the  reasons  of  obedience  confirmed  from  the  writings  of 
the  profound  Bishop  Sanderson,  &c.  By  a  Divine  of  the  Church  of 
England.  Licensed  April  19,  1689.  London:  Printed  for  S.  Smith. 
4to.     Pp.  35. 

12.  Some  Considerations  touching  Succession  and  Allegiance.  Lon- 
don :  Printed  for  R.  Chiswell,  1689.  Licensed  AprH  9,  1689.  4to. 
Pp.  34 

13.  Considerations  humbly  offered  for  taking  the  Oath  of  Allegiance 
to  King  William  and  Queen  Mary.  London  :  Printed  for  J.  Leake, 
1689.    4to.    Pp.  62. 

14.  The  New  Oath  of  Allegiance  justified  from  the  original  consti- 
tution of  the  English  Monarchy.  London  :  Printed  for  Randal  Taylor, 
1689.     4to.     Pp.  27. 

15.  Reflections  upon  a  Late  Book,  entitled,  "The  Case  of  Allegiance 
Considered,  wherein  is  shown  that  the  Church  of  England  doctrine  of 
Non-resistance  and  Passive  Obedience  is  not  inconsistent  with  taking 
the  New  Oaths  to  their  present  Majesties."  London  :  Printed  for 
Richard  Baldwin,  1689.     Pp.  16. 

16.  A  Letter  to  a  Bishop,  concerning  the  present  Settlement  and 
the  New  Oaths.  London  ;  Printed  for  Robert  Clavel,  1689.  4to. 
Pp.  36.  N.B.- — Robert  Clavel  printed  Samuel  Wesley's  Letter  on 
Dissenting  Academies. 

17.  A  Full  Answer  to  all  the  Popular  Objections  that  have  yet 
appeared  for  not  taking  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  ;  particularly  offered  to 
the  consideration  of  all  such  of  the  Divines  of  the  Church  of  England, 


464  APPENDIX. 

and  others,  as  are  yet  unsatisfied.     By  a  Divine  of  tlie  Church  of  Eng- 
land.    London  :  Printed  for  R.  Baldwin,  1689.     4to.     Pp.  83. 

18.  A  Representation  of  the  Threatening  Dangers  impending  over 
Protestants  in  Great  Britain,  before  the  Coming  of  His  Highness  the 
Prince  of  Orange.     1689.     4to.     Pp.  54. 

19.  A  Letter,  written  by  a  Clergyman  to  his  Neighbour,  concerning 
the  Present  Circumstances  of  the  Kingdom,  and  the  Allegiance  that  is 
due  to  the  King  and  Queen.  London  :  Printed  for  R.  Chiswell,  1689. 
4to.     Pp.  13. 

20.  A  Treatise  of  Monarchy.  Done  by  an  Earnest  Desirer  of  his 
Country's  Peace.  London:  Printed  for  R.  Baldwin,  1689.  4to. 
Pp.  73. 

21.  The  Proceedings  of  the  present  Parliament  justified  by  the 
Opinion  of  Hugo  Grotius,  &c.  By  a  Lover  of  the  Peace  of  his 
Country.     London  :  Printed  by  R.  Taylor,  1689.     4to.     Pp.20. 


C,  page  151. 

LIST  OF  BOOKS  CONDENSED  IN  «  THE  YOUNG 
STUDENT'S  LIBRARY." 

1.  Works  of  Dr  Lightfoot.     2  vols,  folio. 

2.  Works  of  Dr  Barrow.     3  vols,  folio. 

3.  Life  of  Archbishop  Usher,  with  a  collection  of  Three  Hundred  of 
his  Letters.    Folio. 

4.  Usher's  Antiquities  of  the  British  Churches,  &c.    Folio. 

5.  Usher's  Historical  Explication  of  the  Continual  Succession  and 
State  of  the  Christian  Churches.     Folio, 

6.  Usher  on  the  Original  of  Bishops,  &c.    8vo. 

7.  The  Letters  of  Grotius. 

8.  The  True  System  of  the  Church.     By  Sieur  Jurien.     8vo. 

9.  The  Accomplishment  of  Prophecies.  By  J.  Pepeth.  2  vols. 

10.  Raius'  Second  Tome  of  the  History  of  Plants.     Folio. 

11.  A  Book  of  Canon  Law.     2  vols,  folio. 

12.  Two  Treatises  on  the  Use  and  Abuse  of  Books. 

13.  A  Voyage  to  Dalmatia,  Greece,  and  the  Levant.    By  Mr  Wheeler, 

14.  A  new  Relation  of  China.  By  Father  Gabriel   de  Magaillans. 
Quarto. 


APPENDIX.  465 

15.  Chardin's  Voyages  into  Persia,  and  to  the  East  Indies.     Folio. 

16.  Persecutions  of  tlie  Reformed  Churcli  in  France. 

17.  The  British  Theatre,  or,  The  true  History  of  Great  Britain.  5  vols. 

18.  The  InMlibiHty  of  the  Ptoman  Church.  8vo. 

19.  Abridgment  of  Universal  History.     By  Henry  le  Bret.     3  vols. 

20.  Tavernier's  Treatises.     Quarto. 

21.  Dissertations  of  Mr  Burman.     Quarto. 

22.  Speech  of  Monsieur  Cocquelin. 

23.  Dr  Burnet's  Letters.    Svo. 

24.  Thirty-three  Orations  of  Themistius.     Folio. 

25.  Prerogatives  of  St  Ann,  Mother  of  the  Mother  of  God,  approved 
by  the  Doctors  of  the  Sorbonne. 

26.  Three  works  written  against  the  Doctrine  of  M.  de  Meaux.  3  vols. 

27.  Discourse  on  the  Eucharist.     Quarto. 

28.  StiUingfleet's  Origines  Britannicae.   Folio. 

29.  "Works  of  James  Alting.     Folio. 

30.  Manner  of  Thinking  Well.     Quarto. 

31.  History  of  a  Christian  Lady  of  China. 

32.  History  of  the  East  Indies. 

33.  Boyle  on  Nature. 

34.  Locke  on  the  Human  Understanding, 

35.  Beasts.     By  J.  Darmanson. 

36.  Essays  on  Philosophy  of  Descartes. 

37.  Boyle  on  Specific  Piemedies. 

38.  Reflections  on  Ancient  and  Modern  Philosophy, 

39.  Cicero's  Ofiices.    8vo. 

40.  Stanley's  History  of  Philosophy. 

41.  Boyle  on  Final  Causes,    8vo. 

42.  Description  of  a  Ship.     By  Sir  W.  Petti. 

43.  Letters  on  the  use  of  Pendulums,  &c. 

44.  Extracts  from  English  Journals. 

45.  Micrographia.     By  Hook. 

46.  A  Treatise  of  the  Loadstone.     By  M.  D, 

47.  Vapours.     By  Edmund  Halley. 

48.  Disquisitiones  Critica3.     Quarto. 

49.  Novorum  Bibliorum  Polyglottorum  Synopsis. 

50.  Abridgment  of  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  Grammar.  By  Leusden.  Svo, 

51.  A  New  Lexicon  in  Hebrew  and  Latin.     By  Robertson. 

52.  Seldeni  Otia  Theologica,  &c.     Quarto. 

53.  Gronovius's  Exercitations  on  Judas  Iscariot.    Quarto. 

54.  Dr  Sprat's  History  of  the  Royal  Society.     Quarto. 

55.  Cave's  History  of  the  Fathers.     Folio. 

2  a 


466  APPENDIX. 

5Q.  The  Works  and  Life  of  Gregory  Nazianzen.     Folio. 

57.  Dodwell's  Dissertations  on  St  Iren^eus. 

58.  „  „  on  St  Cyprian.     Folio. 

59.  The  Works  of  Clemens  Alexandrinus.     Folio. 

60.  The  Epistles  of  St  Clement. 

61.  Du  Pin's  Ecclesiastical  Authors. 

62.  The  Art  of  War.     3  vols.  8vo. 

63.  The  Education  of  Daughters.     By  Fenelon. 

64.  Curious  Miscellanies.     Quarto. 

65.  Fasciculus  Rerum  Expetendarum. 

66.  Dissertations  about  Wedlock,  &c.     By  Mayer  us. 

67.  Discourses  upon  the  Sciences. 

68.  Luther's  Conference  with  the  Devil. 

69.  Anatomical  Discoveries.     2  vols,  folio. 

70.  A  Treatise  on  Marriage.     By  Chausse. 

7L  Collection  of  Pieces  of  Eloquence  and  Poetry, 

72.  Speeches  in  the  French  Academy. 

73.  A  Clergyman's  Letter  to  Nuns. 

74.  Life  of  Mecenas.  * 

75.  Treatise  on  Witches.     Quarto. 

76.  Treatise  on  Law. 

77.  The  Art  of  Preaching. 

78.  History  of  Animals  mentioned  in  Holy  Writ. 

79.  Clerkson's  Discourse  concerning  Liturgies. 

80.  Comber  on  Liturgies. 

8L  A  Bibliotheque  of  Ecclesiastick  Authors. 

82.  Du  Pin  on  Church  Discipline.    Quarto. 

83.  Treatise  upon  Nature  and  Grace.     By  Jurieu. 

84.  The  Inquisition  at  Goa. 

85.  Notes  on  Virgil.     By  Rua^us. 

86.  Works  of  Le  Moyne.    2  vols.  4to. 

87.  Carmelite  History  Defended. 

88.  Vossius's  Observations. 

89.  Ray's  History  of  Plants. 


NOTE.— Page  198. 

After  this  work  was  sent  to  press,  the  writer  ascertained  that  the 
story,  given  on  the  authority  of  John  Wesley,  page  198,  is  not  strictly 
accurate.  The  following  are  the  facts  of  the  case,  in  brief : — Though 
the  Marquis  of  Normanby  was  probably  the  means  of  obtaining  for 
Samuel  Wesley  the  rectory  of  South  Ormsby,  the  real  patrons  of  the 
living  were  certain  members  of  the  Massingbercl  family.  It  also  ap- 
pears that  the  house  of  the  patron,  which  was  situated  in  the  parish, 
was  rented,  not  by  the  Marquis  of  Normanby,  but  by  the  Earl  of 
Castleton ;  and  that  it  was  the  latter  nobleman  who  so  resented  the 
affront  to  his  mistress,  that  Samuel  Wesley  found  it  expedient  to 
resign  the  living.  According  to  the  Bishop's  Register  at  Lincoln,  Mr 
Wesley  took  possession  of  the  South  Ormsby  Rectory  on  the  25th  of 
June  1691. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES  OF  PERSONS. 


A. 

Anne,  Queen,  258. 

Ackland,  Sir  John,  80. 

Addison,  Launcelot,  34. 

Addison,  Joseph,  34,  241. 

Albemarle,  Duke  of,  13. 

Alleine,  Joseph,  23,  34,  47,  48, 

Alleine,  Richard,  23. 

Alexander,  Rev.  W.  L.,  146. 

Alsop,  Vincent,  74,  117,  386. 

Ambrose,  Isaac,  23. 

Anglesea,  Earl  of,  13. 

Annesley,  Ann,  122. 

Annesley,  Benjamin,  121. 

Annesley,  Judith,  122,  126. 

Annesley,  Rev.  Dr  Samuel,  22,  84,  85, 

119,  159,  327,  386. 
Annesley,  Samuel,  jun.,  121,  229,  296. 
Argyle,  Earl  of,  60,  05. 
Asgil,  Mr,  276. 
Atterbury,  Bishop,  276,  339,  344,  367. 

B. 

Bacon,  Lord,  348. 

Badcock,  Rev.  S.,  162,  350,  380. 

Baillie  of  Jerviswoode,  61. 

Barclay,  William,  183. 

Barrow,  Isaac,  64,  129,  385. 

Bates,  William,  12-14,  22,  24,  386. 

Baxter,  Andrew,  348. 

Baxter,  Richard,  6,  10,  12-15,  21,  24, 

100,  117,  188,  236,  386. 
Bedford,  Earl  of,  61. 
Bekker,  Balthasar,  348. 
Belhaven,  Lord,  60. 
Bentley,  Richard,  118,  370. 
Berry,  Rev.  John,  102. 
Bertie,  Mr,  297. 
Beveridge,  Bishop,  116,  175,  214,  384, 

385. 
Biddle,  J.,  71,  256. 
Blackhall,  Thomas,  80. 


Blackmore,  Sir  Richard,  243. 

Blackwell,  Ebenezer,  200. 

Blood,  Colonel,  56,  61. 

Blow,  Dr,  327. 

Bolingbroke,  Lord,  241,  365. 

Boyle,  Hon.  Robert,  118. 

Brady,  Dr,  137. 

Brand,  Rev.  T.,  159. 

Bridgewater,  Benjamin,  274,  317. 

Brookes,  Thomas.  22. 

Brown,  Robert,  353-355. 

Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  8. 

Buckingham,  Duke  of,  9. 

Bull,  Bishop,  188,  385. 

Bunyan,  John,  64,  76. 

Burgess,  Dr,  52, 117,  339,  386. 

Burnet,  Bishop,  61,  116,  174,  188,  215, 

257,  269,  339,  385,  458. 
Busby,  Dr,  8. 
Butler,  Bishop,  369. 
Butler,  Dr,  30. 
Butler,  Samuel,  64. 
Button,  Ralph,  34. 
Byng,  Admiral,  117. 


Calamy,  Edmund,  6,  10-14,  20,  22,  28, 

46,  50,  81,  120,  370,  386. 
Caroline,  Queen,  380. 
Cartwright,  Bishop,  34.  89. 
Caryll,  Joseph,  6,  7,  11,  15,  22. 
Catherine,  Queen,  19. 
Cave,  Edward,  370. 
Chadwick,  William,  212,  292. 
Chandler,  Samuel,  370. 
Charnock,  Stephen,  23,  34,  66,  76,  386. 
Charles  I.,  1,  7,  17. 
Charles  IL,  10,  11,  13,  19,  28,  SO,  43, 

56,  61,  80,  87,  94,  114,  167. 
Chaucer,  Geoffrey,  243. 
Clarendon,   Lord,    13,  14,  24,  28,  104, 

124,  169,  274. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES  OF  PEKSONS. 


4G9 


Clarke,  Dr  A.,  31,  46,  50,  83,  87,  121, 
125,  140, 162,  254,  294,  323,  325,  333, 
358,  449,  451,  457. 

Clarke,  Dr  Samuel,  3G7. 

Clavel,  Robert.  278,  315. 

Coke,  Dr  Thomas,  162. 

Cole,  Thomas,  34. 

Collier,  Jeremy,  170. 

Collins,  Anthony,  241. 

Compton,  Bishop,  34,  98, 106,  114, 175. 

Congreve,  William,  241. 

Cowley,  Abraham,  64,  114,  242. 

Crewe,  Bishop,  34. 

Croft,  William,  370. 

Crofton,  Zachar3^,  15. 

Cromwell,  Sir  Harry,  6Q. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  7,  10,  19,  35. 

Cromwell,  Richard,  10. 

Crusoe,  Timothy,  74. 

Cudworth,  Ralph,  8,  20,  64,  129. 

Cumberland,  Bishop,  34,  188. 

D. 

Darwin,  Robert,  304. 

Defoe,  Daniel,  75,  121,  219,  221,  284- 

289,  292. 
Delamotte,  Charles,  432. 
Derham,  William,  116. 
Derwentwater,  Earl  of,  365. 
Doddridge,  Philip,  370. 
Dodwell,  Henry,  170,  345,  385. 
Dolling,  Henry,  55,  82. 
Doolittle,  Thomas,  69. 
Dorset,  Earl  of,  137. 
Dryden,  John,  64,  83,  97,  118, 187,  242, 

243. 
Dunton,  Elizabeth,  207. 
Dunton,    John,  66,  68,  70,  74,  84-86, 

117,  120, 131,  135, 150, 161,  209,  290. 
Dymoke,  Mr,  297. 

E. 

Earle,  Mrs,  350. 

Eccles,  Solomon,  5. 

Ellison,   Richard,  200,  397,  405,  433, 

435. 
Emerson,  William,  370. 
Erastus,  6. 
Essex,  Earl  of,  61. 
Exeter,  Earl  of,  169. 


Fairthorn,.  William,  163. 
Farmer,  Antony,  88. 
Featley,  Dr,  52. 
Firmin,  Thomas,  256. 
Fitzgerald,  Colonel,  194. 
Flavel,  John,  23. 
Fleetwood,  Bishop,  116. 


Foley,  Bishop,  194. 
Forster,  Judge,  48. 
Fowler,  Bishop,  34. 
Fox,  George,  5,  182. 
Frampton,  Bishop,  169,  172. 
Freak,  Mr,  36,  42. 
Fulford,  Sir  Francis,  38, 
Fuller,  Dr  Thomas,  52. 


G. 

Gale,  Roger,  372. 
Gauden,  John,  10. 
George  I.,  367,  369. 
Gibbons,  Grinling,  1 1 8. 
Gibson,  Bishop,  369. 
Gildon,  Charles,  138,  154. 
Glanvil,  Joseph,  348. 
Glisson,  Mr,  38. 
Godfrey,  Sir  Edmondbury,  57. 
Gouge,  Thomas,  23. 
Goodwin,  John,  7,  23,  34. 
Graffen,  Rev.  Mr,  15. 
Grandval,  De,  181. 
Granville,  Sir  John,  10. 
Gunning,  Dr,  13. 
Gurnall,  Dr,  20. 

H, 

Hackett,  Bishop,  19. 

Hakewell,  Dr,  80. 

Hale,  Sir  Matthew,  56,  386. 

Haley,  Dr,  255. 

Halifax,  Lord,  261. 

Hall,  Westley,  323. 

Hall,  Bishop,  3. 

Hammond,  Dr,  271. 

Hampson,  Rev.  John,  457. 

Handel,  G.  F.,  370. 

Hardy,  Edward,  55. 

Harper,  Mr,  416,  417,  433. 

Harrison,  Thomas,  23. 

Hartop,  Sir  John,  100. 

Henry,  Matthew,  70,  117,  386. 

Henry,  Philip,  12,  24,  34. 

Hey  wood,  Oliver,  12,  20,  23. 

Heylin,  Dr,  14. 

Hickes,  George,  170,  345. 

Hinks,  John,  5. 

Hoadley,  Bishop,  367,  369. 

Hoare,  Mr,  329. 

Hogarth,  William,  37. 

Hoole,  Rev.  Mr,  352,  357,  382,  392,  394, 

443. 
Hooper,  Bishop,  34,  116,  255. 
Hopkins,  Bishop,  34,  385. 
Horlock,  Mr,  36. 
Horneck,  Anthony,  213,  364. 
Howard,  Lord,  61. 
Howe,  John,  12,  24,  34,  74,  386. 


470 


INDEX  OP  NAMES  OF  PERSONS. 


Hull,  Henry,  29. 
Huntingdon,  Bishop,  34. 
Hyde,  Anne,  56. 

I. 

Ingham,  Benjamin,  432. 
Inman,  Rev.  Mr,  345. 
Ironside,  Bishop,  35,  43. 


Jacombe,  Dr  Thomas,  13. 

James  I.,  8,  348. 

James  II.,  59,  60,  87-107, 114, 115, 167. 

Jane,  Dr,  174,  175. 

Jeffreys,  Judge,  24,  61,  96,  97, 100,  105. 

Jennings,  Abi-aham,  30. 

Johnson,  Maurice,  372.    . 

Johnson,  Dr  Samuel,  324,  370. 

Jones,  Inigo,  8. 

Juxon,  Bishop,  271. 


Keach,  Benjamin,  117. 
Keith,  George,  276. 
Ken,  Bishop,  34,  115,  169,  171,  385. 
Kendall,  Duchess  of,  367. 
Kennet,  Bishop,  116,  369. 
Kerr,  Dr,  276,  277,  280. 
Kettlewell,  John,  171,  386. 
Kneller,  Sir  Godfrey,  118,  187,  371. 
Kirk,   Rev.  John,  125,  128,  441,  452, 
456. 

L. 

Lake,  Bishop,  169,  171. 
Lambert,  John,  322. 
Lardner,  Nathaniel,  370. 
Laud,  Archbishop,  1,  51. 
Lavington,  Dr  G.,  369. 
Law,  William,  369. 
Lee,  Nathaniel,  187. 
Leland,  John,  370. 
Lely,  Sir  Peter,  64,  187. 
Leslie,  Charles,  171,  386. 
Lichfield,  Earl  of,  169. 
Lightfoot,  Dr,  6,  14. 
Lisle,  Mrs,  96. 
Lloyd,  Bishop,  34. 
Locke,  John,  118,  188. 
Lowth,  Bishop,  369. 
Lowth,  William,  116. 
Luther,  Martin,  348. 

M. 

Macaulay,  Lord,  20,  59,  102,  107,  126, 

129  242. 
Mallett,  David,  241. 
Manchester,  Earl  of,  13. 
Manton,  Dr  Thomas,  7,  11-14,  22,  74. 


Mar,  Earl  of,  365. 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  117,  299, 

Marriot,  Obadiah,  74. 

Marsh,  Bishop,  34. 

Marshall,  Nanny,  351. 

Marvel,  Andrew,  8. 

Mary,    Queen,   56,   98,  126,  185,   191, 

193,  194. 
Massey,  Captain,  31. 
Maundrell,  Henry,  91. 
Maw,  Mr,  329. 
Meech,  Mr,  45. 
Milbourne,  L.,  160. 
Milner,  Rev.  Thos.,  293. 
Milton,  John,  8,  12,  242,  271. 
Milton,  Lord,  372. 
Monk,  General,  35. 
Morgan,  Rev.  Mr,  406,  407. 
Morley,  Bishop,  13. 
Morley,  Dr,  390,  393,  395,  399,  405. 
Monmouth,  Duke  of,  59-61,  95. 
Moore,  Rev.  Henry,  101-103,  445. 
More,  Dr  Henry,  64,  129,  348. 
Morton,  Bishop,  3. 
Morton,  Charles,  34,  66-74,  79,  289. 
Motteaux,  P.  A.,  160. 
Muggleton,  Ludowick,  4. 

N 

Napper,  Sir  Gerrard,  36,  42-47 

Naylor,  James,  5 

Neal,  Daniel,  370. 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  118,  187,  370. 

Norfolk,  Duke  of,  57. 

Norman,  Rev.  Mr,  47,  48. 

Normanby,  Marquis  of,  128,  194,  195. 

Normanby,  Marchioness  of,  269. 

Northampton,  Countess  of,  235,  269. 

Northcote,  Sir  Henry,  91. 

Norris,  Dr,  133,  136. 

Nottingham,  Earl  of,  176. 

Nye,  PhiUp,  49. 

0 

Gates,  Titus,  57-59,  100. 

Oglethorpe,  General,  425-429,  432,  435. 

Ormond,  Duke  of,  13,  56,  365. 

Otway,  Thomas,  64. 

Owen,  Dr  John,  7,  10,  23,  33,  66,  77, 

279,  386. 
Oxford,  Earl  of,  117, 365,  366,  379,  381. 


Palmer,Samuel,  161,  276-281,  315-  317. 

Parker,  Bishop,  88,  89. 

Parkhurst,  Thos.,  84, 

Parnell,  Thos.,  241 . 

Patrick,  Bishop,  104. 

Pearson,  Bishop,  14,  129,  385. 

Penn,  William,  34,  118,  183. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES  OF  PEKSONS. 


471 


Pepys,  Samuel,  10. 

Petre,  Edward,  88. 

Petre,  Sir  Wm.,  80,  88. 

Piers,  Eev.  Mr,  325. 

Piggot,  Rev.  Mr,  419 

Pococke,  Dr,  34,  91. 

Pool,  Matthew,  22,  66. 

Pope,   Alexander,  84,   161,    241,  243, 

367,  381. 
Porter,  George,  34, 
Potter,  Archbishop,  369,  39G,  405. 
Prideaux,  Dean,  369. 
Priestley,  Dr,  350,  357. 
Prior,  Matthew,  118,  241. 
Pulleyn,  Bishop,  194. 
Purcell,  Henry,  187,  327. 

R 

Radcliffe,  John,  118. 
Ramsay,  Allan,  370. 
Read,  John,  91. 
Reading,  Mr,  331,  332. 
Renty,  Marquis  de,  227. 
Reynolds,  Bishop,  10-14,  415,  424. 
Richards,  Edward,  80. 
Rogers,  Timothy,  208. 
Romley,  John,  323,  373. 
Roubiliac,  Louis,  371. 
Rowe,  Mrs,  138. 
Rupert,  Prince,  51. 


Sacheverell,  Dr  Henry,  213,  282,  334- 

343. 
Sault,  Richard,  133,  135. 
Bancroft,  Archbishop,  104,   115,   169, 

171. 
Sanderson,  Dr,  271. 
Saunders,  Henry,  50. 
Saunderson,  Nicholas,  370. 
Scot,  Reginald,  348. 
Seeker,  Archbishop,  444. 
Settle,  Elkanah,  133. 
Sharp,  Archbishop,  55,  60. 
Sharpe,  Archbishop,  116,229,234,236, 

267,  304,  345,  385. 
Sharpe,  Granville,  237. 
Sherlock,  Dr,  104,  169,  367,  369. 
Shiers,  Mrs,  80. 
Shower,  John,  74,  386. 
Sloane,  Sir  Hans,  118,  370. 
Smalridge,  Dr,  339. 
Smith,  Dr  G.,  102. 
Smithies,  Rev.  Mr,  214. 
Southey,  Robert,  83, 102,  291,  S59,  363, 

364. 
South,  Dr,  34,  116,  188. 
Spencer,  E.,  243. 
Spratt,  Bishop,  34,  113,  385. 
Spurstow,  Dr,  13,  15. 


Stackhouse,  Thos.,  369. 

Stafford,  Bishop,  80. 

Stafford,  Lord,  2,  58. 

Stanley,  Dr,  267. 

Stapleton,  Bishop,  80. 

Staunton,  Dr,  34. 

Stedman,  Rev.  Thos.,  90. 

Steele,  Sir  Richard,  241. 

Stevens,  Dr  A.,  102. 

Stillingfleet,  Bishop,  20,  104,  115,  188, 

385. 
Stonehouse,  Rev.  W.  B.,  358. 
Sturt,  John,  245. 
Swift,  Dean,  118,  137,  241. 
Sydney,  Algernon,  61. 
Sylvester,  Matthew,  117. 

T 

Tate,  Nahum,  137,  160. 

Taylor,  Jeremy,  3. 

Temple,  Sir  William,  138. 

Tennison,  Archbishop,  104,  116. 

Thomas,  Bishop,  169,  172. 

Thompson,  Alderman,  15. 

Thomund,  Lord,  23. 

Thorold,  Sir  John,  297. 

Tillotson,  Archbishop,  20,  61,  104, 115, 

175,  184,  191-194,  256,  3S5. 
Tindall,  Matthew,  241. 
Toland,  John,  241,  255. 
Tonge,  Dr,  57. 
Travers,  Mr,  374. 
Tregonell,  Mr,  36,  42. 
Turner,  Bishop,  34,  169,  171. 
Tyreonnel,  Duchess  of,  62. 

U 

Usher,  Archbishop,  3,  12. 

V 

Vandyke,  Sir  Anthony,  8. 
Veal,  Edward,  65. 

W 

Wagstaffe,  Thos.,  172. 
Wake,  Archbishop,  369. 
Walker,  Obadiah,  88. 
Waller,  Edmund,  64,  242. 
Waller,  Sir  Wm.,  66. 
Wallis,  John,  13. 
Walton,  Rev.  Mr,  42,  43, 
Warburton,  Bishop,  369,  380. 
Waterland,  Daniel,  369. 
Watts,  Isaac,  138,  370. 
Watson,  Thomas,  23. 
Welsh,  W.,  222,  223. 
Wesley,  Anne,  322,  351. 
Wesley,  Bartholomew,  28-32. 


472 


INDEX  OF  NAMES  OF  PERSONS. 


Wesley,    Charles,  312,   322-326,  400- 

406,  427,  437,  444. 
Wesley,  Emilia,    199,    351,  354,   356, 

359,  361. 
Wesley,  John,  sen.,  32-51,  296. 
Wesley,  John,  jun.,  20,  30,  77,  94, 107, 

136,    162,   177,  187,  188,  198,  201, 

215,  222-228,   239,    251,    296,    299, 
-   326,     339,     357,    361,     362,     372, 

374,    375,    380,   382,  388-400,  415, 

421,  426,  433,  434,  437,   444,  449, 

456,  458. 
Wesley  Kezziah,  325,  354. 
Wesley,  Matthew,  232,  262,  323,  333, 

436-442,  455. 
Wesley,  Martha,  322. 
Wesley,  Mary,  200. 
Wesley,  Mehetabel,  201,  204,  333,  351, 

389,  437. 
Wesley,  Mrs  Susannah,  125,  252,  304, 

327,  328,  345,  350,  360,  392,  416, 

443. 
Wesley,    Miss    Susannah,    199,    333, 

351. 
Wesley,  Samuel,  jun.,   102,  199,  307, 

315,  319,  321,  323,  357,  379,   409- 

411,  417,  432,  434,  444,  448,  455. 
Wesley,  Miss  Sarah,  451-454. 
White,  Bishop,  169,  171. 


White,.Rev.  John,  51. 

White,  John,  Esq.,  M.P.,  122. 

White,  Jeremy,  26,  272. 

Whichcott,  Colonel,  297,  300. 

Whitby,  Dr,  34,  116,  385. 

Whitehead,  Dr,  456. 

Whitelamb,  John,  374-379,  405,  417, 

420,  421,  424,  4.30,  433. 
Wilde,  Dr  Robert,  13. 
Wilkins,  Bishop,  34,  56,  67. 
William  III.,  56,  85,  90,  93,  104-107 

115,  116,  167-169,  187,  188,  295. 
William,  Lord  Russell,  61. 
Williams,  Bishop,  70. 
Williams,  Dr,  20,  117, 120,  386. 
Wilmot,  Lord,  28,  29. 
Wilson,  Bishop,  116. 
Wiuchelsea,  Lord,  107. 
Wiseman,  Bishop,  34. 
Withers,  George,  8. 
Wood,  Anthony,  28,  33. 
Woodward,  Dr,  258. 
Wren,  Sir  Christopher,  34,  64,  118. 
Wright,  William,  206. 
Wycherly,  William,  241. 

Y 
Young,  Dr  Edward,  241,  370. 


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BALLANTTNE,  ROBERTS,  ANti  COMPiLNY,  PRINTERS,  EDINBURGH. 


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